Crimson promise
by slayer123bio
Summary: A promise stained in Crimson. A promise held to the very last human breath. A promise to keep despite the stains a Promise to keep while you cry with the rain
1. Corundum

Hello everybody, my name is slayer123bio and this is my first claymore fic. I hope you all will enjoy this story and I will try to keep the characters from being to OOC as you probably get too much of that, along with sticking with the manga, for those of you have not read the manga, then ask me and I will send the manga files to you. Please rate and review!

Sybil looked on as dozen of her fellow comrades walked around the grassland. The sliver eyed half human half yoma purposely avoided each other, only a few formed groups of friendship or if you could call it that in this business.

Sybil herself was stationed on a rock looking over the grassy fields as more and more silver eyed witches showed up. Like the rest Sybil had been ordered to come to Mac Synthesis, a grassy plain of fields, hills, rocks and an old ruin not too far away. She was informed that the organization was about to be brought back together, though what that exactly meant, Sybil was not sure.

Her long pulled back hair billowed in the air as she turned her head to the south as she sensed four more of her claymore wielding comrade's approach. Their armour reflecting the rays from the sun before a cloud decided to obstruct the life giving rays.

She noted that number 5; Rachel was leading the group over to find a spot to wait for the Organization head members to show up. Sybil almost jumped as Alicia and Beth of the dark suddenly appeared not too far from her. The top ranking numbers looked out towards the 40 or so Claymores with no expression. She was not the only one to notice as the others turned or stopped their conversations to look at the pair with respect or fear of their power.

"Form up!" A feminine shout alerted Sybil and the others to the presence of number 3 Audrey. The half human half yoma women started to assemble around her as men in black obscuring clothing stood behind her, their clothing and aura like that of a secret lurking in the shadows.

Audrey and the organization leaders were stationed on a hill overlooking the entirety of the gathered claymores. Sybil left her own position at the rock to step inside the ranks, her fellow comrades were all facing towards Audrey as she stepped back to allow an elder to take her place.

The man took off his hood to reveal a wrinkle free face, bald head and visible veins running across his face. He looked upon his warriors with indifference as he spoke.

"Many, if not all of you have not been informed of the reasons for being here. Make no mistake, this was intentional and has been discussed with my fellow elders. As you well know we are not the only continent on this planet. Some are greater and others smaller, however, all have one thing in common and that is its inhabitants. Yoma roam this world as an infestation and many find methods to extinguish these monsters from their homes and society." The elder stated. Everyone knew this; even their weapons were from another origin along with its crafted unbreakable alloy.

The elder continued without losing his original pace. "The world wide and most effective method is to create half-human half-yoma beings to fight off the Yoma. Of course this has its set backs and others handle these creations differently. Our continent being one of the smallest in the world, we are not subject to large scale battles. Voracious eaters are great in number and many organised armies have been formed. We are just a small part of a defending army; however, we are still effective in keeping this continent relatively safe."

Sybil glanced around her as some of the more impatient ones shifted wanting to get to the point of this gathering and more importantly what they had to kill. Sybil looked back up to the Elder as he spoke once again.

"It troubles me to say this but our world wide army has another enemy. Yoma are great beings yet if a half-human half-yoma were to become enemies…" He trailed off as murmurs filtered through the ranks. A reaction the elder had anticipated as he waited patiently as the others tried to make sense of the situation.

Sybil herself was confused. She was completely thrown as to why her fellow 'claymores' would fight amongst each other. They all had one common goal even if they had different views and ways of doing it. A Claymore fought Yoma and voracious eaters for humans…what reason could they have to actually fight apart from the validated rule of duels for ranks.

The Elder stepped forward and the claymores hushed quickly into silence. Wanting to know more about the situation rather than guess.

"What they fight for is control. Two half-human half-yoma armies battling across the globe for territory: the aggressor being the half-human half-yoma, following a Voracious eater of abyssal status donning the name of the Crimson prowlers. A direct enemy to our organisation and a menace to human and yoma alike, thus women and _men_ will try to persuade you however, you must kill or flee from them on sight. My point is; they are coming to invade our homeland"

Now shouts were heard across the field as Sybil's kind spoke of the situation in disbelief and some in outrage. Their faces gave off emotion which was irregular for even a nice claymore; however, leniency was accepted in this case. The reaction was understandable Sybil herself was starting to get worried she noticed a comrade speak to her partially to herself as well.

"How big is the army and better yet, if they have males then what kind of restraint do they have? Can we take them?" the claymore said with a smooth voice yet worried expression. Sybil shook her head in an effort to reply to the question. This was getting deeper by the minute and more questions seemed to arouse more than answers. Things needed explaining and Sybil bit down on her lip before calling out. "How big is this army or better yet! How can they use males effectively?" Sybil shouted earning an approving eye from her surrounding comrades.

The elder actually replied. "Our information tells us a total of 50 Crimson prowlers will reach our shores in two days and another 50 next week. The exact method on how the males are controlled is sketchy at best. We can deem that most of it results in vigorous training in yoki control and manipulation. Though Yoki adapt differently in different continents, this means depending on the continent the yoma may be weaker or stronger, smaller or bigger the list is endless" The elder answered not looking the least bit fazed as his clothes wafted in the winds passing current. His eyes staying cool and sharp, his gaze levelling all those in his field of vision and his pose demanding respect of the highest calibre.

"What about _our_ army? Do they expect us to handle this on our own; surly some support must be given?" Nina number 9 shouted in harshly. Sybil winced at the tone however; the elder was the least bit fazed.

"30 reinforcements have arrived. They are making base due east of here however, I must inform you now they do not look like you. Yoma are Yoma, however, even Yoma of different continents have a different blood to the ones infesting here. These have their benefits and there downsides. One being the release of Yoma does not have much excitement or pleasure to it, however, still powerful and will become dangerous if they do not know their limits. As such incorporating men and women have been achieved with the same result as you who stand before me." The elder elaborated with as much as a blink.

Sybil waited as the other claymores remained quiet, only a few spoke to the other in whispers. They had gained some good news from the elder but not enough they could really use. She needed knowledge of identification; she did not know the dress code for this part of the army and would need to know.

"Identification?" This time Rachel voiced strongly as if she was the strong and the rest were the weak. Rachel's boyish looks fooled some into thinking she was a man and as such the accusation had shaped her into a rough and foul mouthed fighter. The elder did not even blink.

"That is for you to find out on your own. They do have a black claymore with a different alloy however, that is all you will need to know. Currently 1 will be sent to every region so do not be surprised if you see them. They will aid you in Awakened being hunts, however, requests will continue as normal. Number 30's and under must not engage a Crimson prowler in combat. Unless you have our allies from the east with you, for identification by name call them The Epitome and give them respect. You will be paired up with one from now on until more reinforcements arrive." The elder said

Sybil chewed her lower lip as images of what these black claymore wielders looked like and better yet, what was their attitude to organization members of female status. The thought was not quiet good either way; however, orders were orders and if meant it would save the humans and allow her more peace of mind then she would follow. One question did eat at her though and she needed to voice it. Her cape flapped in the wind as she turned her body to face directly towards the elder.

"Who is this leader of the Crimson prowlers, what does he look like?" She asked and this time the elder's placid eyes narrowed slightly before saying. "He goes by the name of Crimson helm though his visual identification is unknown. However, I must stress that he is here, on this continent and from what little spies we sent, we can gather he is moving west and then plans to concur south." He said staring her out until she looked away. "That is all the information you need, the Epitome will arrive in days. Dismissed!" His voice spoke out in finality.

Sybil looked over to her fellow warrior who had spoken to her before. The woman had short pulled back spiky hair with one strand flowing over her forehead.

"What do you think?" Sybil asked As the Claymores dispersed while talking loudly to each other. The claymore turned to her and analysed her before speaking.

"I guess all I can say is that I hope these Epitome do not try and take over our jobs. I know they are coming to help and I must say I do not hate males but their habits and actions towards us are never polite unless we are doing business. Though they should be strong enough to fight off these Crimson prowlers but I am hoping this will not last too long, we already have enough on our head as it is" The Claymore said looking around as some claymores stayed to talk while others simply moved on.

Sybil sighed in agreement; they had too much to worry about these days and not enough man power to deal with it all. Perhaps that may change.

"What is your name warrior?" The Claymore asked as she started to move away and Sybil started to walk with her. They left the area as the sun came out of the clouds again to shine down upon them, a welcome change.

"Sybil; number 25" She said simply, it was tradition to tell another claymore her name and rank simply because, except for appearance, that was all they had; a name and a number.

The claymore nodded "I am number 18; Amelia" She said simply as they walked into the forest encircling the plane. They walked in silence as their territories were not too far from each other.

"So how strong do you think these crimson prowlers are considering the elder practically told us to flee as we see them?" Sybil asked as they approached a crossroad leading in four directions.

"I do not know but if they spot us I suspect that running away would be futile. I think the best plan, despite what we may think of them, is to stick with these Epitome claymores at all times if not for a little back up" The claymore said turning to the one road leading far right and Sybil followed as this lead to her territory.

The two walked in silence until Sybil started humming. Amelia turned her head slightly as the woman hummed.

(A//N: Enya Fire and Ice) "huuuu-huu-huuuuuuuuumm huu-huuuuum, huuuuu-huu-huuuuuuuuuuuuuum huuuuum-huum-huum-huum" She hummed with a cheery smile on her beautiful face. "huuuuuuuuuum-huu-huumm Huum-huum-huuuuuuuuuum huuuuum-huum-huum-huum, Huuuuum-hum, Huuuuum-huum-huum-huum Huum-hum" She hummed and soon Amelia joined in, they continued on enjoying their synchronised rhythm as it sounded through the forest.

They needed a little distraction before the coming battle.

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"Oww, shit Claire! Can't you be a bit more delicate" Helen said as she jumped back from Claire's Wind cutter, the said attack had licked at Helen's upper thigh. The woman looked at the damage as it had cut into flesh and black form fitting stockings. She looked back up at Claire who stared back emotionlessly while her hand was still gripping her sword.

Helen deciding that beating Claire was just not going to work unless she caught her off guard or distracted her. Helen stabbed her blade in the earth as she stretched her arms to a boulder. Tapping into her yoki she used the stretched muscles to pull back like a spring and the boulder came at her with great force and speed. Helen went to the ground as the boulder past and twisted her arm into a spiral she unleashed the drill attack on the passing boulder which cracked it into hundred high speed rocks and pebbles.

Claire instinctively used her wind cutter to cut the pebbles and rocks into bits. She suddenly stopped and jumped back as a claymore shot out of the ground and cut across her left breast and scratched her face. Claire gritted her teeth and looked at the smirking Helen while she placed a hand over chest assessing the damage. Blood slowly seeped from the very shallow cut on her cheek while blood fell to the floor on her feet and blood flowed out of her chest.

She used her yoki to focus on healing the wounds to at least close them if anything else. Helen snickered as she pulled her arm out of the ground.

"I guess those times in the north helped me as well. You are great at sensing yoki but if the person you are scoping out suppresses their yoki, you will have a much harder time sensing it until it becomes close to too late" Helen explained as she placed her claymore over her back and into its holder.

Claire sighed knowing she was right and let go of her own blade. They both walked over to the cave entrance they had found early this morning. Deneve, Yuma and Cynthia sat outside eating some apples as they spent time using a rock with metal imbued in them to sharpen their blades. They had come to the southern planes only to stop and decide to go to a town. The reason being they needed armour and not to mention their swords were in desperate need of repair for Maria's sword had broke against a densely armoured Awakened being not too long ago.

They had hoped that the town may have a blacksmith of some assistance as most of the time whenever the seemingly indestructible blade broke, the organization would send it off over seas for repair and within the month they would have it back ready to be used again.

Claire sat down on the grass next to her friends placing the claymore beside her. She looked it over to find her symbol almost unrecognizable and the swords edge slightly blunted and jagged. The blade needed some serious work and fast. She looked over to her right as Helen sat beside her handing over a piece of clothing used for wiping off blood. It was not the most hygienic way to clean a wound but the yoma inside them made their bodies immune to almost all poisons on this continent and some foreign as well. She wiped away the blood with a slight wince before poking around the wound to find out which hurt the most and needed her focus. She released maybe 2 of her yoki and aloud it to slowly heal the wounds, she relaxed back as she finished the job subconsciously allowing her mind to flow back in time. She closed her eyes as the sun warmed her skin, wind gave a gentle breeze and the rustling grass made a hypnotising noise of peace.

She thought back to Teresa, the one who gave her everything despite the short time they stayed together. She was always ready to protect and comfort her. Always thought of Claire's safety before her own, and always taught her the ways of the world. Little things when ever they talked by the fire, hunting, dressing, beauty, menstruation cycles, how to protect once self and even help give her some type of education in maths, English and her favourite; history. Teresa willingly admitted that she and science never worked out, to many questions pop up more than answers. History was laid out so no problem, maths; the square root of 36 is 6 end of and English; the claymore killed the Yoma.

Teresa was a mother in her eyes and one she wanted to grow up with. A strong, beautiful and caring mother. Simply put, perfect, what more could she want? What more could she want? Oh yeah, one thing…for her to stay alive, of course that would never have been the case. Teresa was strong but not as strong as to fight until Clare grew old and died; they made Claymores as fast as they lost them and some became stronger than others. Eventually a time would come when Teresa would die in battle yet Claire deceived her mind thinking Teresa was the goddess incarnate and nothing could bring her down. That was until that bitch Priscillca took everything from her, the new number two went over her limits just to kill Teresa who had spared her life. The whore of Isley of the south now, the woman who chopped of the head of everything she put her hopes and dreams into. She would pay her back ten fold, no matter how many days, weeks, months, years decades, centuries, millennia's it would take. She would rip of her fucking head by the end of all this, she would use the power of the souls resonating in her to massacre that bitch into the bloodiest and most torturous parts of the seven hells.

A hand landed on her shoulder and she opened her eyes and she found Miria looking back with some concern, the others were looking at her too. Clare realized she had tapped into her Yoki and her eyes had changed to their cat like gold.

"What's wrong? You went over 40 of your yoma usage and you were growling." Miria said glancing at Helen suspiciously. Helen waved her hands once she caught Miria giving her that look.

"No not me. I wasn't even talking…I swear!" Helen said As Miria kept her eye on her.

Clare shook her head before patting Miria's hand as she relaxed again. "It was nothing just thoughts of revenge pumping through me" She said looking at the sky as she cut her thoughts of Priscillca from her mind.

Miria looked at Clare before nodding and backing away from her to stand in front of the others as Tabatha stood next to her. "We will move into town soon though I am a bit doubtful that we will find anyone that can properly repair the claymores but it is better we have some repair then none at all." Miria said motioning to a big box with the remains of her sword inside.

Suddenly Miria cursed her broken blade as she jumped forward to her friends and they were also alerted to something as three figures ran out and into their line of vision. The 7 women were shocked at what they saw.

Three men stood, obviously half-human half-yoma as they could sense their yoki but besides that these men wore blood red armour. Slim thin crimson armour that formed over their chest, gauntlets covered their arms to talon fingers. They wore knee high metallic black armoured boots and had a sword attached to their back. Their faces were covered by a black visor as their red spiked helmet encased their heads in metal protectiveness. A green type of open skirt went across the back of their waist and sides. They wore green form fitting clothing underneath all of this and this completed their outfit.

The women stood and stared as the men looked at each other before the one in the middle spoke. "Who do you side with? Human, yoma or half-human half-yoma?" A smooth voice asked them through his helmet.

Miria glanced at her friends before speaking. "Neither, we side with ourselves and no one else" She said to them and they reacted by looking at each other again. Silence followed for a few minutes before the men drew their weapons. They pulled out long claymores, a magnificent crimson in colour with a transparent blade outlining the sword. The blade was like the average claymore design for half-human half-yoma people like themselves. The colour and the shining transparent white made it look very dangerous as the transparency seemed to absorbed the light and send it through a type of prism sectioning out the light into many colours, giving the edge a rainbow colour. The one thing that set them off into surprise and slight dread was that they could sense yoki running through the blade…almost like…it was alive.

The men stepped forward and let their restrained yoki loose to more than 5 and instantly the women were thrown again as the yoma they read was not the average blue but this time it was a sinister green. These men were from foreign origin and whoever they were they meant business.

Clare looked toward Miria who was not armed however, a blade was thrown towards Miria and she caught it to find it was Deneve's as she herself used her fallen commanders; Undine's claymore instead. The women looked at their enemies with slight nervousness yet they soon focused and decided there was nothing more than to do their best.

The one man on the left suddenly sprang forward and Tabatha intercepted him, however, what she found was not what she had expected, no, what she really should have. The male's strong big and muscular body against her frail female one made a huge difference in strength and speed. Instantly Tabatha was sent into the cave from the force of the enemy's attack, the man following her along with Cynthia and Yuma in toe ready to help their friend fight their foe.

The other four women waited as shouts, curses, slashes, ripping of clothing and flesh echoed though the cave to their ears. They wanted to help them but the fact was that the numbers were not even and to leave and help would mean three people would have to fight the other two. Miria knew this was the best formation as she could tell the man that was fighting with Yuma, Cynthia and Tabatha was the weakest of the three. The two strongest were waiting outside ready to fight at any given moment.

They were the four strongest so technically this was the best setup, let the strongest fight the strongest and let the weakest fight the weakest. The real question was, were Miria and her team strong enough. There was really only one way to find out and the men decided to react just as the thought formed in her mind.

Miria moved to the side allowing the middle man to pass her as she struck at his passing form. The attack was blocked easily by the man as he placed his crimson claymore against his back. He impacted the wall with one hand as it absorbed the momentum. Miria moved in quickly striking at him as he pushed off one handed from the wall next to the cave entrance, her blade bit into the stone before she spun around to catch the incoming crimson blade. She gritted her teeth as the force of the blow shook her entire body and she fought to stand as the force pushed on her legs making her crouch slightly. Miria's eyes widened as the transparent edge of the crimson blade cut into her own until it was a fourth of the way through Deneve's claymore. Miria used her intense speed to move away from her opponent as Clare moved to attack him with a basic horizontal slash which the Crimson man blocked and countered with a low sweeping cut.

Clare tried to block but the force of the crimson blade knocked her arm out and away, leaving an opening for the man to attack her open front. He did and went straight for a diagonal slash, planning on cutting from left shoulder to right hip. The blade was stopped as Miria suddenly appeared and grunted as her body vibrated while her blade was cut into again.

Miria and Clare jumped back as the man also took a step back. A wind blew past blowing his green skirt with it, giving him the look of a warrior born for battle. Miria looked at Clare and then to her blade; Deneve's claymore, two cuts fell into the metal and Miria looked back at her opponents claymore and studied his weapon. On a more thorough inspection she realised too late that the blade of the Crimson claymore was something of a high density and strength, she was afraid to say it was some type of diamond but dismissed the idea as soon as it came. Their own claymores did not compare to their enemy's and this was just the blade itself, let alone the yoma running through it and its wielder.

Miria had to change her objectives, from capture, to winning, to finally survival. This was a battle they could not win unless they did their best. They had fought tougher opponents yet not one's as unique and different as these. Deciding that now was the time to get serious Miria glanced at Clare who looked back. A simple nod at each other confirmed that there was no holding back; they had to survive this, for their fallen comrades at the very least.

Over to their left Helen and Deneve were in a similar situation yet not as bothersome as Miria's and Clare's. Deneve ran in and chopped at the man only for it to be blocked, he kicked out and Deneve used the flat of the claymore to block it, however, the force launched her off her feet. She flipped back as the man suddenly jumped towards her as an explosion of dust and rock happened where he was standing seconds ago.

An Arm wielding a claymore shot out at him and he batted the blade a way before positioning his blade behind him to block Deneve's attack. He then ducked as Helen's arms came for him and chopped at his head. Now crouched he spun around a full 360 degrees attempting to knock Deneve off her feet, however Deneve jumped over the Crimson's mans feet and into the air. The Crimson warrior pushed himself in the air after her and attacked hitting her blade and arm to the left by his own strength alone and he immediately went for the opening. He sliced but suddenly Deneve was zipped away despite being in mid air and he followed her direction as she was retracted by Helen's stretched arm. He landed on the grass, his Crimson armour gleaming like a demonic eye in the sun.

They faced one another again.

So far Helen's and Deneve's team work had kept them from serious injury but the fact was they could only keep it up until the Crimson man figured out their patterns. Deneve and Helen glanced at their cut and dented claymores in frustration and hatred. Deneve more so then Helen as it was Undine's claymore this bastard was hacking away at. She growled as her eyes turned yellow in anger and she released over 15 of her Yoki. Helen looked over to her friend before closing her eyes and smirking. She opened them again and allowing her Yoki to flow out by 25, veins pulsed along her face as she readied for one of the hardest battles of her life.

The cave was probably the best fight going for the group of female claymores. Their fight had many twists and turns in it and the one maybe worst off was the Crimson man. He had not said a word but his forcefulness had increased. Tabatha was the most aerobic and had a vast amount of agility in the entire group. Her speed and body movements were hard to predict and react to properly while also defending from Cynthia who seemed to read his every movement and then there was Yuma. Despite her lack of strength and speed she made up for it with improvisation. He had tried to stab her stomach only for her to move away and stab it into the cave wall leaving an opening to his arm.

They had managed a few hits but none of them were strong strength wise and their cuts had only drawn a little blood as his armour was strong despite its thin mass and his muscles were taut and seemed to tighten and grow denser making their cuts less effective.

They did however, have their fair number of wounds, yet for all of them they were never permanent. They healed within the minute and Yuma's healed within a few seconds. Some of the attacks were deep but the only true damage that he could really count for was blood loss and to a half-human half-yoma that was not really anything fatal or worrying. True they could pass out from lack of blood but they would be back up and ready within the minute.

So far only Tabatha had used over 10 over her yoma energy and that was only for brief bursts as she evened out the amount of Yoki she could use and the amount she would keep in reserve.

The man was more offensive despite his type being defensive as Yuma had managed to score a limb only for this man to regenerate it back. He even went so far as to retrieve the gauntlet covering his originally severed hand. The battle was going in the female's favour but all of them knew that it was only a matter of time before he released his yoki. Fitting it would be now of all times.

His Yoki flowed through out his body and he growled an animalistic growl, they could see his talon gauntlets lengthen as his fingernails extended. His muscles tightened and his bones cracked ominously hinting at something that would be bad for the women.

They could not see his eyes but knew they had changed but the next and final thing that changed made them stare in horror. His sword made cracking noises and a pulse of yoki expelled from it. Another pulse and suddenly the blades transparent edge started to vibrate making the edge turn a gut wrenching glowing green. The man raised his blade with both hands and he stared them down the glowing, green, humming blade making a soft light around it in the dark cave.

Yuma allowed for over 20 of her Yoma to flow out as her friends did the same. This battle would require all they had and a little more of they wanted to survive this battle.

Off in the distance three men ran towards their battle. Black claymores with a blue sapphire edge shone underneath their black and red capes. Miria and her team just had to hold out but the question was.

Could they?

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Hope you enjoyed it as much as I did writing it! Sorry of there are any spelling or grammar mistakes, I am not good with beta-reading myself so if anyone would like to I would love a proof-reader to help me out. Anyway rate and review and all questions will be answered in shout outs.

**Next chapter:**Bloodsprayed from Yuma's wound and she fell to the ground, er eyes rolling back as she went limp. The crimson man stabbed his blade into for extra measure and blood flew out in a quick burst.

"Yuma!"

Next chapter: _**We call them Crimson helm**_


	2. We call them Crimson helm

**We Call Them Crimson Helm**

Sybil walked up a rocky hill, the slope would be normally treacherous even to Claymore's yet Sybil could walk it with her eyes closed. The clouds covered the sun in a fine mist as it was still early in the morning and the air was cold yet warming.

Sybil climbed the hill to be presented by comforting view of her home. Using the money she had saved up, she had brought a comfortable little cottage. One floor and a basement; for storage of equipment and luxuries she wanted to keep from bandits. Though a sign with 'silver eyed witch ahead' discouraged all from doing something stupid, there would be nothing she could do about it if she was gone during the raid on the cottage.

She walked up to the cottage as forest trees covered the other end of her home leaving a shadow between the tree lines for anything to lurk out. She reached her cottage and fished out a key hidden underneath her hip armour, the golden key glinted from what little sun rays got through the morning mist. She opened the Cottage door and stepped in.

It was cold as always and she could not help but look on sadly at the empty household yet she immediately went to the open furnace, placed some chopped wood inside it, grinded some flint and birthed the fire. It was natural for her, the heat was not needed but it replaced the lonely cold with a welcoming brightness. She sat in front of it looking into the embers as the flames rose for oxygen and fed off the wood.

They burned for air as she burned for something else. Something more than killing yoma, getting paid, staying in solitude and then back to slaying Yoma.

They ate wood she ate loneliness and only short reprieves from her comrades helped her continue. She always sat alone here with just the crackling fire to speak to her.

And she often spoke back.

Feeling slightly bored, Sybil rose and took off all of her armour as she moved to the washroom. She invested a lot of money in the water system. All she needed to do is heat up the water and then pour it in. The room was full of many washing smelly items some she did not even use. She lit the coals and placed a grill over it; she then worked her way to the other side of the room and picked up a large bucket which she walked outside of the room with.

She made her way outside of the cottage with a little bounce in her steps as she always loved to soak in hot baths and it been over a month since she had properly returned to home. She was even happier because the cottage was dusty and dirt and maybe some rats might have tried to make their home there, she could only hope.

Sybil drowned herself in making her Cottage immaculate and that meant to the finest detail. It gave her something to do, something other than killing yoma. She started to make her way down the cliff and over to another, there was a lake not too far from her cottage, a simple five minute walk that she loved to take.

She soon reached the green grassy hill and just as she walked over it she felt a Yoki presence headed towards her. She immediately gripped for her sword only to realize she had left it at the cottage. She turned towards the direction where the yoki was coming from and was surprised to feel its strength and compatibility with hers.

_Half-human half-yoma…_She thought as the yoki moved towards her cottage. She decided to suppress her yoki but discarded the idea; if the yoki was this strong then it had already had detected her before she detected it.

She grew slightly angry at the fact that the other signature seemed to be moving around in _her_ house, and even more at the thought of that person rummaging through her personal belongings. Glancing at the bucket in her hands she decided that if this was a comrade then she would be in for a verbal assault.

However, if it were a Crimson prowler then she was in trouble. It had been over six days since the large meeting and she found herself regretting not being more precautious…_at the very least to lock the god damn door!_

The signature then started to get stronger meaning it was approaching. She thought about running but the chances of getting far were slim. Fighting was a natural option, however, her claymore was in the cottage and not to mention they were not meant to fight Crimson prowlers without some serious reinforcements.

She stepped backwards from the steadily advancing yoki. A flash caught her eyes and she jumped back as a claymore landed not too far from where she was standing, her eyes widened as she caught a glimpse of the symbol before she fell in the lake underneath her…_My claymore…_

She fell in and immediately swam to the surface and swam to the shallow end of the lake to take her blade. She gripped the handle before releasing it from its earthly hold and brining it up in a vertical standpoint as she got into a moderate defensive fighting stance.

A laugh echoed through the early morning air and Sybil felt herself lower her weapon a little as the laugh was boisterous and almost good natured. She looked at the hill as a form took shape in the low cloud surrounding the area. The figure moved towards her before jumping the five minute distance in one jump. The figure landed not to far from her and she knew this could not possibly be a crimson prowler. Gold armour decorated the figure.

Light gold gauntlets reaching from fingertips to shoulders, gold armour decorated his front covering from neck line to his waist. A black skirt fell from hips to knees then to silver armoured leggings. A gold duel horned helmet covered his head from all harm; a visor covered his face, the colour being reflective. Finally to top of the uniform the figure wore a black internal and silver external cape.

The obvious male figure gestured at her. "What is with the look? Were you planning on swimming in your clothes?" The young male voice asked her in curiosity.

Sybil for her part just stared wide eyed not really understanding what was going on. She did remember the elder saying that they would be pairing up with these foreign allies but she did not expect to see one so soon or with such an appearance or aura.

She half expected him to be a man of colossus stature and with a booming deep voice clothed in demonic black armour…not this. Though it was an over exaggeration on her part but she still could not fathom the significant difference. True he was a full head taller than her and he did fill out his armour rather well.

Sybil examined him with more intensity and even leaned forward to look at him, her blade had been lowered at this point as she focused more on her study than on the danger.

"Hello?" He asked tilting his head a bit while waving his hand at her. She leaned back and considered his earlier words. Her face contorted into a frown as the words sunk in and also the events leading from his detection to this point.

"Your reckless actions caught me slightly off guard" Sybil said hiding the shame of admitting she was scared at the time. "This" she said lifting up her arms to the side in open fashion, water dripping from her uniform "Is due to your dangerous way of an introduction" She said boiling inside as she knew she looked pathetic and even worse, to an Epitome.

"I just wanted to leave a good first impression" He said shifting on his feet a bit as he tried to absorb her frustration and anger towards him.

"Well unfortunately, it was a bad impression and one hopefully not to be repeated" She replied showing the anger on her face despite having to move a wet lock from her eyesight. She noticed that he seemed to only stare at her and she herself started to get puzzled.

She glanced behind her seeing nothing wrong except the bucket floating around in the lake but apart from that there was nothing out of the ordinary. She turned back to find him looking at the bucket and then back to her. "Is there something wrong?" She asked not sure whether that was the right question or not. She was never good with men as she tended not to speak with them unless it was to do business.

She never had a huge thing against men but their habits and the looks they gave her were irritating, degrading and even offensive towards her. But then that was human men, not half-human half-yoma men…_I wonder._

"You just look really…attractive like that" He said not sure how to voice his thoughts without coming off as a man thinking with his best friend between his legs and instead as a man with at least half a brain.

Sybil just blinked at the comment before she tilted her head like a dog in confusion. Why would she look attractive wet, dirty and a messy? It could not be the clothing; they tended to be water resistant though they still could get damp. Her hair…maybe as some women to men, do look more attractive when unorganised.

She considered the man again and the frown quickly returned. She pointed a finger at him in anger and he simply reacted by looking at it. "What do you think you were doing walking around my house?" She demanded from him.

He glanced back at the cottage over his shoulder before looking back at her. By now the suns rays were starting to pick up light started to brighten up the area with comfortable warmth. Birds chirped a melody of their own and wild life started to grow confident as the rays of life rained them on them.

"They told me where to find you. I walked to your house and called for you but you did not answer, your door was open and you even had the fire going so I had to at least look for you, then I saw your claymore and decided to find you and return it." He said as the sun reflected off his visor making her look away.

"And throwing it at me was your way of retuning it to me? It is a sharp and strong weapon and not one to be thrown around like some kind of toy" She said waving the blade along with her words. The man was either stupid or had no common sense, as it stood it was the latter.

"Yeah…anyway, I was sent here to be your partner from now on just in case a Crimson prowler pops up or you can not handle a certain mission." He said watching her as she combed her hair back with her hand. She looked towards the bucket floating in the lake. "So I am here to help you out whatever way I can." He said raising his head as she pointed her hand at the lake.

"If you want to help then correct your previous error and fetch that bucket out of the water, fill it up and then follow me." She ordered moving past him as she made her way back up the hill and towards the cottage. Taking her words to mind and also feeling the slight regret of his earlier actions, he decided to do as she said.

Sybil groaned as a wet lock fell over her eyes. She hated getting wet unless it was warm water she was getting wet with. The imbecile that was arrogantly called an Epitome marched behind her, his heavy boots making a sharp clanging sound. She forced herself to ignore his earlier stupidity and focus on the present and future.

So now what? She had to live with someone else because the organization said so? It was true she felt lonely and even more so in wanting someone to just be around but at the same time she enjoyed the solitude, it allowed her to think and relax without being disturbed to even be happy even though the happiness was small.

If the organization had sent a responsible, thinking, quiet and smart warrior then she would be fine. However, now she was stuck with this hooligan and worst of all he would be living in her house and from she had heard from others, men were pigs. She growled as she entered her cottage with a slam from the door and she almost turned on him as he hit something while spilling some H2O onto the floor.

They went into the washroom which was now hot after the flame being left alone for so long. She motioned for him to place the metal filled bucket on the grill, as he bent she saw a glimpse of his black claymore. She could not see his symbol but she did see, with some surprise, a sapphire edge that glistened beautifully. She almost reached out to touch it yet stopped as he got back up to look at her.

She frowned and did so even deeper as she realized she had never frowned so much in a day as much as she had just done within the last 30 minutes. His helmet annoyed her as it covered his face leaving nothing to look at but her own bent reflection in the mirror like visor." No hats or helmets allowed on in my household. Take it off" She ordered

He shifted again and Sybil took that information into storage. It was always goods to figure out ones reactions to something. He reached up and roughly pulled off the visor, the helmet being non-removable friendly. She was presented with a beautiful face of a young man with faded blue hair and sharp ruby eyes. An ear stud was in his ears both being a silver pentagon. His young looks and sexy smirk gave off its own appeal and she just stared at him for a moment before looking away at her boiling water. She lifted the bucket and poured it into her circular bath; it was 3 meters in diameter and had been a heavy cost due to its metal and plastic frame.

She handed him the bucket before ordering him to go to the lake and fill it up again. His smirk changed to one of disappointment and his red orbs stared her silver ones out. His eyes seemed to get bigger yet she shook her head and pointed towards the door and he left with an animated heave. She almost giggled at that yet she maintained her composure and just smiled before squashing it.

Did Sybil just smile over a man…? She shook her head before moving to the store room to pull out some of her most cherished items.

The mop, dust pan and brush.

-------------------------------------------

Yuma sliced at the Crimson prowler who jumped back and away from the blade only to jump back to strike at her. Yuma moved away and his blade cut through the cave wall like a knife through water. Tabitha suddenly appeared behind him out of nowhere with incredible speed, she swung her claymore at him, the edge coming ever closer to his helmet. He suddenly ducked and kicked out at the same time before rolling to the left as Cynthia moved to cleave him in half. He slashed and hacked at her yet she seemed to read his movements and act accordingly.

He frowned as Yuma got in close and cut along his back spraying blood on her face. He flipped back and over her head while he struck at her. Their blades met and Yuma's was cut into deeply, her arm vibrated as the vibrations from the green glowing Crimson blade ate at her own. Cynthia and Tabitha suddenly appeared either side of him and took a chance to strike.

His blade moved quickly with a huge increase of speed, severing Cynthia's right arm and cutting into Tabitha's stomach. They fell back and away from him as he chopped at them again in attempt to increase the damage. Yuma ran in and suddenly rolled underneath his blade picking up Cynthia's extracted limb and sword. The Crimson prowler launched at her and kicked her out of the cave after she threw the limb and sword to Cynthia.

The Crimson prowler ran out after Yuma who rolled up to her feet, her yellow cat like eyes glaring at him in defiance. Two swords appeared by his neck, closing in to lop off his head yet suddenly they were blocked. Cynthia and Tabitha moved away as he struck out again. They could see it; they could see almost two swords when they had struck at him, a skill unique to him and a deadly one at that. The Crimson sword's edge slowed down to its transparent spectrum which elicited a breath out from the man. Yuma glanced at her battered blade wondering how long it would last or if it could even puncture the Crimson prowlers armour without breaking.

Miria stuck at her enemy with as much ferocity and then some. Clare appeared behind him and struck out with amazing speed which cut through the enemies armour and into his flesh. It went through his stomach and then out by his spine. Blood spurted from the wound and the man instantly moved away holding his wound at the same time.

Miria was behind him as he landed and he instinctively rolled to the left before bringing his blade up to stop Clare's. He stood and brought his blade behind him stopping Miria's blade before shooting his blade forward to attack Clare. Clare ducked as she saw am opening, she quickly sheathed her sword and yoki started to pour into her right arm. The Crimson prowler could sense it but it was too late, several attacks landed across his front and blood sprouted forth from the new wounds. With an animalistic growl of annoyance the Crimson prowler flipped back and over Miria's head, intercepting her strikes with his own.

He landed only to have Clare land right by him and initiating her wind cutter along his front and side. He roared in pain, swinging at her with great strength yet it was stopped by three instant cuts at his blade. Miria appeared to his side and went for a vertical slash from his head to groin. He jumped back as the blade broke through his visor and cut into his cheek. He rolled and then stood up to consider both Clare and Miria.

Miria glanced at Clare before looking back at the man whose visor was broken showing the right side of his face and some of his faded red hair. A feral growl escaped his lips and his teeth were gritted together in defiance to their lead in the battle. "Fuck this shit! I'm going to decimate all of you!" He shouted and his eyes suddenly changed into the familiar yellow. He held up his sword and suddenly ran at them before disappearing and appearing behind them. He struck out and it was repeatedly hit by Clare's wind cutter, Clare moved away as she realised her strikes would not stop his blade like before. His sword just skimmed past her form as his blade hit the ground in an explosion of rock and dirt. Miria moved in from behind yet he whirled around in a high block before striking his blade forward like a snake.

He struck Miria in the head and for a moment he thought she was dead yet she disappeared as if she was never there. A strike at his back made him spin in pain and sliced at Miria only for his blade to go through her form like it was not there. A barrage of strike cut through his armour and ripped into his flesh dropping out more blood around him.

He spun around and slashed at Clare and she dodged using her wind cutter to cleave off his arm and cut into his armour and further destroy his helmet and visor. Miria appeared behind him and ran her blade through his back. More blood dropped and he rolled while picking up his blade and arm. He got to his feet and hopped back as Clare's wind cutter applied multiple cuts into the grass and earth. He placed his severed appendages together and concentrated his yoki on rejoining them.

He noticed Clare moving in with Miria covering her back. A huge 2 meter high boulder was beside him and he kicked at them both with incredible strength. The boulder was cut into pieces by Clare's attack yet the action slowed them down and allowed him to rejoin his limb. He suddenly disappeared and reappeared behind the two, striking at Clare with high speed yet Miria intercepted with slight displeasure as his blade cut into her own. He kicked out and she tuck the attack otherwise it would hit Clare instead. She sailed past Clare while Clare herself used her wind cutter to land some hits on him that affected his performance. He struck at her making her back away as his blade landed against the ground to explode in debris due to the force of the attack.

The Crimson prowler used the time to focus on his many wounds to at least close them before going back in to fight. Miria appeared in front of him and her blade twisted from the ground and up intending a vertical cleave. He used his speed to turn his body to the side making her blade pass in front of him. His hand snapped out to grab her yet it was a futile effort. He sensed Clare come from above and instead of readying to defend he simply pointed his fingers at her. Clare knew what was coming before it happened yet her wind cutter came too late. His fingers shot forwards and into her body, two in the stomach, one in the chest, one in her shoulder and one deadly through the right side of her neck. He smirked before withdrawing his fingers as Clare still could use her wind cutter.

Clare fell to the ground in a crouch and Miria appeared at her side always keeping her eyes on the Crimson man. She had never expected a half-human half-yoma to be able to use that technique yet as she thought about Helen and the now deceased Jean; she could understand its possibility.

The Crimson prowler still held his smirk as some of his wounds closed. "You say you side with no one but we accept everyone. However we only allow the strong to join us and you both more than qualify…along with your comrades" He said gesturing to Helen as she drilled the other Crimson prowler's arm into confetti. "Though some of them need work" He said gesturing

Bloodsprayed from Yuma's wound and she fell to the ground, her eyes rolling back as she went limp. The crimson man stabbed his blade into her for extra measure and blood flew out in a quick burst.

"Yuma!"

Miria gritted her teeth as the man kept stabbing Yuma's body until Cynthia and Tabitha attacked him forcing him back to his leader. Finally the one holding what was left of his arm retreated to the leader's side, keeping his eyes on Helen and the enraged Deneve.

"We can make you stronger, better and more appreciated for what you do and what you are. You will live in a lifestyle where people are like you and understand your joy and pain." The Crimson leader said as the one to his left, the one without a limb, started to regenerate at a very quick rate.

Miria stared at the man then back to her comrades who were hovering around the fallen yet alive Yuma. What was this man saying? He had sent his men to kill them or at least hurt them. They had struggled to fend them off yet they were and then at the point of where it seems he will lose he calls them to join his group? What kind of sick bastardized group was this?

"Not a chance. Your way of approaching us has been purely offensive in every sense of the word. You have even struck down one of our comrades and you expect us to simply join you? You would not have made the offer unless you thought you could not win and it is clear you are." Miria said her mouth a firm line of disapproval.

The Crimson leader glanced to his fellows, his cat like eyes having disappeared during his verbal offer. He then looked back up to Miria. "These are our methods, as I have said we only take in the strong and not the weak." He told her, now frowning.

"Your _Methods_ are wrong and dangerous. Our comrades do not need to be strong to be our comrade, a system like that…is no better than a pack of animals" She said bringing a surprised notion to the Crimson trio. The leader's face was one of anger as his eyes changed to their cat like quality before they turned green.

"Die!" He roared as his other two companions started to move until three Gold figures jumped from behind them.

Reinforcements had arrived.

---------------------------------------------------------------

Sybil soaked in her devilishly warm bath, her tense muscles relaxed and her hair flowing into the water, the image being slanted in the liquid spectrum before being distorted as she moved slightly to reach for the flowers in the water. A foreign flower known as lavender and one that she adored with a crazed passion, she brought it to her nose and inhaled before a sigh escaped her lips as her brain bathed in translating the aroma and sending pleasurable feedback through her body.

Steam wafted in the air giving the room a magical state of mind, which, unfortunately for Sybil, was interrupted by a painful crash and an eye wincing smash of glass. Anger drove through her veins as she stood up, the water pouring down her sleek beautiful body the only part an off turn was the horrible stitching and scarring located under her left breast. Her hair was plastered to her back and forehead and barely budged as she shouted.

"What the hell was that!?" She called to the Epitome with the name Caliga. He had been cleaning up the cottage as was her instructions. He was very obedient but had a smart mouth to compensate, which was not an overly bad thing. It gave the cottage a more energetic feel to it thanks to the humour which forced her to smile even to the slightest.

"That um…purple vase thing…?"Sybil let out a breath at the fact that it was one she was preparing to get rid of yet she still scolded him. He needed it and Sybil felt like she had some kind of power when ordering him around, it made her feel like a…woman, a housewife, a mother?

"Caliga if I come out there and if even one shard of glass is on my floors…" She stopped as she heard him scramble to clear the mess away. She wondered why he was so obedient, from what she had heard and seen; men seemed to be muscle apes with an affinity for domination over a household and women. They were like dogs and territories any thing that misbehaved to the alpha's will was punished and dominated into place.

She stepped out the bath, shaking away the thoughts while at the same time letting loose droplets from her drenched hair. She took two towels from the hot metal conductive rails, they were warm and welcoming as she started to dry off.

After finishing off her body she wrapped her long her in to a tight bun and then placed a hair pin in it to keep it together. A few stray strands fell down her face but nothing to troublesome. She picked a bathrobe slipping it around her perfect figure with a delicate grace. She moved her hand to tie a knot in the fluffy belt but stopped to go over a mark under her left breast.

It looked like an open wound with internals visible and a sickly purple skin around it stitched up roughly thanks to the tough and resilient yoma like skin. It was the area where they replaced her lung for a yoma one. It had been dormant until it tasted her blood and slowly it had spread through her body in hunger and her own defences fought against the invader as best it could. The bodily battle was a long and painful one with nothing to do but live on. She withstood it with the intent to kill the yoma beings that took her family away, a hatred that turned her body into an offensive type and placed her in the annals to fight of the ones she hated.

She had found the yoma and had him dead at her feet within the first five seconds. His corpse did little to ease her heart and it was at that moment after completing her life goal that she regretted becoming a half-human half-yoma being. Her fate was death or everlasting life. Death; by another, life; by the yoki inside of her providing eternal health and energy to her body.

She opened the door and instinctively tensed as the expected cold would normally hit her once she left the steam filled bathroom. She was surprised to find the cottage warm as the three fires in the house had been lit probably due to Caliga getting more wood then she would need for a week. She did not bother with firewood as she could adjust to the heat and she rarely stayed at the cottage too long before going to the local village or a mission.

She glanced around to find Caliga by the fire in the main room, seated on the floor with his back to the wall. His eyes were on the fire and she took the chance to move to her room and quickly change back into her now washed, as ordered of Caliga, clothes.

She felt some nervousness from the prospect of stepping out into the main room and sitting with him. She rarely spent time with other claymores and even less with any man except the ones in the black clothing. In her eyes Arius was not really human or a man for that matter, more an informant without a life of his own. Caliga was a man and she would never say she was a lesbian, despite some of her comrades being among that sexual category, she did not see men as anything special but she, like most claymores, lived and died virgins and she was not planning on losing it to him.

Feeling more in control and confident, she walked out and straight up to the fire on the opposite side of him. She sat down and looked over to him with expectation and he simply looked at her before reverting his eyes back to the fire. She felt slightly put off by his less energetic pose but she just added it up to the night and darkness having a natural effect on him.

They sat there for almost a whole hour without a word and Sybil started to forge many questions in her head that she would like to be answered. As soon as he threw another log in the fire she decided that it was time to ask.

"What are your experiences and identification?" Sybil asked considering what she knew he could and could not answer. The organisation liked to keep things tight lipped and she only hoped that things would be different from…wherever he came from.

"I am Caliga from brigade 8. My number is 25 out of 52, offensive class. I am prized for my incredible speed and yoki control, I have been in over 20 awakened hunts and dozens of battles against the Crimson prowlers. Finally I have been serving the army for a little over…hmm 60 years?" Caliga said with a smile of recollection.

Sybil processed the information not fully believing what she was hearing. Brigade; what were these brigades for and how many were there? Over 20 awakened hunts, ridiculous. She could imagine he had been in dozens of battles with these Crimson prowlers since they apparently had a war going on. But most shocking was his age, not many claymores lived past the age of 30 without dieing or awakening.

"Brigade?" She decided to voice.

"Yeah, everyone has their own brigade that looks over a territory or parts of a continent. A brigade to you would be all 47 of claymores that inhabit this continent and they have facilities for recruitment, training and a home base and sleeping quarters." He explained with growing enthusiasm obviously enjoying giving out his knowledge.

"How many?"

"The place where I am from has over 41"

"How did you survive awakened being hunts, 20 in fact? From what I have heard most of your claymores and the enemy claymores are male." Sybil asked leaning in with curiosity.

"Unlike you it is ten to every hunt as in our lands awakened being tends to stick together or else they will be eaten." He said with a healthy smirk.

"Eaten?"

"You don't need to know"

She gave him sceptical look at that but decided it best to get as much information from his lively mood as she could before it went away.

"How have you lived so long? Normally we claymores start to lose it after 20 years. The yoki inside of his becomes too much to fight off…how?" She asked not quite finding the words.

"I guess it is all about the Yoma. Yoma have different blood due to where they come from and the environment they live in. My land is mostly wet and soggy despite little rain, and trees go as high from 30 to 40 meters. We rarely make houses and instead live in the trees. The yoma there normally live in the damp swampy earth, ready to pop out at any time. They are very annoying when it comes to their camouflage ability as well. Anyway, our yoma have different properties and habits than yours. They do not hunt; they merely wait for someone to step in their domain before popping out. They are not very offensive either in terms of other people. You could walk right past one and it would just look at you and that would be the end all. When we incorporate their flesh we suffer opposite side effects from your own…mutation" He said

She winced at the word mutation "How so?" she asked

"Instead of pain we feel pleasure and some may even awaken during the process. Most make it through though but the odd one may have to be killed on the spot, a brutal way to do things and not very efficient but the results are the things that count. The other opposite is that we feel pain instead of pleasure when we release our powers and that means it is difficult to use unless trained to deal with the pain. All and all it is one of the best half-human half-yoma creations one could ask for. The yoma can take over but the body always fights it back down. Unfortunately the body is slow to regulate and may take a month to regulate it and most claymores use their yoma powers to frequently and that speeds up the possible yoma take over, since we do not use our powers that much we instead keep the balance in check. Very rare we actually awaken." He finished

For a brief moment Sybil wished she was in his shoes but decided that wishing for something impossible was just stupid and she considered herself an intellectual woman and one with enough sense to know that wishes never came true with out the power of will. She felt more knowledgeable about her new partner and that meant that life against these crimson prowlers would be more easy…speaking of which.

"Who is this Crimson helm?"

Caliga Eased back against the wall as his face became serious. It was obvious she just hit a very important subject and one that was sure to yield great or small quantities of information. She guessed, due to his posture and expression, that it was going to be long.

"What generation number are you?" He asked

"79" Sybil replied not sure where he was going with the subject.

"So every 40 years there is a new generation and then you multiply that by maybe 79…over 3000 years give or take. Yoma have been here as long as humans, they are part of our lifecycle and remain part of it until the end of time. But before the organisation was even created there were half-human half-yoma beings due to mixed species procreation. Weather or not they were deformed or like us I will never know." He stated

"Now Yoma practically populated every 5 miles by the hundreds, almost as numerous as humans and they formed groups and then powerful armies. There were yoma forces all over the world with the strongest yoma leading them all. There were six main continents of power, two in the north side of the planet, one in the west, one in the east and two in the south, we are in the west so you know. Now these yoma armies, the yoma inside them were ten twenty thirty-forty times stronger then the yoma now. They were great and powerful, intellectual and tactical. They were one of the roots for human armies and fortifications." He said

Sybil nodded slowly seeing the possibility in that but a question arose in her head that needed answering. "Why are there none today?"

Caliga smiled and pointed under her left breast. "Oh, there are some left alright" She realised the implication of what he was saying. It actually made so much more sense now, the yoma today were weak compared to the average claymore and not really a threat individually. As half-yoma they had the power of single digits who could take on dozens upon dozens of yoma at a time with ease. Not too mention their awakening which for some reason made them go up to another league of what any yoma being was capable of. It made less sense that they were fused with a lesser yoma instead of a greater one.

"Anyway back to the story." He said chuckling by the way he phrased the important piece of history. "Yoma warred with each other for humans and territory, their battles were vicious and bloody, they would stay in their human forms before transforming and ripping each other apart. They were equipped with armour and weaponry and organised into a great army of vast war potentials. But as you could guess those armies needed food and sometimes they had to resort to animals as the yoma body could live on animals but it was considered disgusting and not something they could easily swallow but they ate for survival."

"So they could live without human meat?" She asked astonished

"Only if they were desperate or needed to spread their resources. Besides most human flesh was given to their new born and do not even attempt to ask me on how they procreate because I will not answer." He said holding up his hand waving any questions away. "Now, the leaders of these great armies were formed out of strength like claymores, we all have a ranking system that is formed by strength or approximate strength values. These leaders were the best, the perfection of any Yoma, first was the two in the north, Dyran and his mate Zaylo, and the opposing army leader was Blake and his mate Iris. Only Iris actually lives to this day, she is to believe to be in exile yet humans pray to her for good luck as a deity or something." He said rolling his eyes at the prospect. "Next the west; here, was duel horn and his two mates Clare and Teresa-"

"I beg your pardon?" She asked in disbelief only to receive an expression of confusion from Caliga. How could this be? Clare and Teresa; their goddesses were fakes, frauds monsters in disguise…_Oh my…they took the form of beauties from…how could they get away with this?_

"Yeah, Clare and Teresa, the ones the humans call their goddesses, they were twins and lovers of dual horn but they were considered as concubines living in a castle just west of here, probably ruins now. From little I know Clare is still alive yet Teresa died after the twins fought to consume dual horns dead flesh since he died at a battle with the ruler in the south." He elaborated yet it did not make her heart any easier. All this time she had been praying to the one creatures she disliked and with no knowledge of who or what they really were. The irony in her life was comical.

"Then you have the one ruler in the south named Orochi and his mate Rapture, only Orochi is alive today, Rapture died in a ambush by awakened beings and her remains were split up to be used for half-yoma half-human beings. He is the most peaceful these days and we allow him his weekly feed or rather we do nothing to stop him because the effort would be too costly." Sybil half listened to him as she thought back to how her mother had called out to the goddess Clare while being disembowelled.

"How can Clare and Teresa be considered Gods?" Sybil asked looking him in the eye with pain and anger. He looked at her and an expression of sympathy was smoothed into his face.

"Anything in their territory was left alone from the yoma armies and dual horns forces. They simply asked for weekly sacrifices for protection from the yoma and the people gladly obliged. They preformed miracles by revitalising crops and bringing to life trees and plants. Healed the wounded and displayed their perfection for all to see. At the time and even now no one knew or cared and even those who did know had the brains as to not ruin the only safe haven on the continent. At the time they lived up to what people expected even reanimation of the dead with their own yoma flesh was nothing to them." He tried with some satisfactory results. She shook for a moment and the room fell silent.

Ten minutes later after silent contemplation she decided to speak. "And the ruler in the east?"

"Crimson helm, they were a strange super power and one that always won their battles or lost with staggering result to their enemy. They-" He was cut off by Sybil

"Wait a minute…they? I thought it was just one person?" She told him now confused with what the elders were saying.

"Crimson helm is a body of two, he could fuse into one or two with both carrying separate powers. They were born as one but could split and form back as much as they liked. Their minds were linked and could finish off another's sentence like it was the other saying it. They were given the name due to their crimson helmets which they always wore when split up. They lost some of their facial features while the other gained some. Sometimes one Crimson helm would lose a nose while the other had the nose but no eyes. They were odd like that but as one they were male perfection at its finest." He said while Sybil tried to understand how that could be possible.

"Now all things come to an end, not because of claymores or the annals but because of war. Humans struck back by mixing their flesh with yoma and thus become non edible, this lead most yoma into starvation while the smart and more tolerant ones lived on animals and other flesh. To top it off yoma eaters started to kill yoma and become strong, strong enough to destroy the yoma empire and all its armies and greatness. Crimson helm, Dyran, Zaylo and Blake were killed by Reconciliation a Yoma eater, Orochi was not considered a threat." He said letting out a long breath of air he did not know he was holding.

"Tell me what a Yoma eater is" She demanded now very curious as to what these beings were. She had never heard of such a thing in her life, she never even thought one could be possible let alone existed.

"Well…They are beings that are yoma but are human at the same time" He said forcing Sybil to give him an expression that asked if he was mentally disabled or not. "What I mean is that Yoma flesh lives inside them but does not change them. It lives with the body not against it for domination, the yoma flesh is linked to the human and they have the same mind and thoughts. When hunting the yoma flesh spreads throughout the body and transforms them into…an awakened one? Something close to that, they feed on yoma and become stronger depending on the yoma they eat and how strong they are. Eventually after enough flesh they would become as strong as the rulers of the yoma armies yet Crimson helm, Dyran, Zaylo and Blake were to strong to eat so instead they were just killed. There were not many yoma eating beings, more like a dozen per continent and they mostly slept dormant as even though they killed and fed off yoma, they were no friend of humans until the push to destroy yoma and even then they were considered as weapons." Caliga said watching as the fire started to dim before throwing in more wood to feed the flames.

"Why are there none now?" She asked interested

"Because Yoma are not as many as they were before and the amount of yoma energy they need to move outbalances the amount they can get a day. Only where I come from do they actually still live. We kill too many so we do not require them, they spend most of their time in a type of hibernation ready to be brought back to animate as soon as they get a whiff of yoma flesh. We are safe from them as we offer little energy for them even in groups." Caliga described

Sybil looked at the ceiling trying to remember something before asking." So how is Crimson helm back again?" she asked him, bringing her knees to her chest and staring at him in waiting. He himself was hypnotised by the fire reflecting from her silver eyes, the way her long hair made her seem like a goddess and long lithe legs. He almost licked his lips but decided to gulp down the drool pooling in his mouth. "Hello?"

"Yeah, um" He tried to compose his mind away from her and back to the question. "As you now realise your yoma side is that of an ancient yoma being and when that was put into you, you inherited traits from that being. When you awaken like most people you will have the mentality and attitude of the yoma that lives inside you, that is natural and Crimson helm or the person who had half his yoma flesh inside him awakened and started the army all over again." He gestured with is hands "That is how this war started." He finished

Sybil finally leaned back and digested the information. "So in a nutshell, a couple of millennia ago, Crimson helm had a great army along with other yoma and then they were wiped out by the humans and Yoma eaters with only a few survivors. Then the dead Yoma flesh was used to create us, half-human half-yoma creatures, Crimson helms flesh was put into someone who later awakened and now is pursuing the path of domination and has come here to do it…am I right?" she asked, Caliga scratched his head while looking to his left.

"Sort of, he does want to dominate but not the world he is not stupid like that. He has power but there is one thing that he is here for, one thing he needs." He said raising a finger

"What is that?" She asked watching his finger until he leaned in close their noses were only a few inches from each other.

"What if I said that of instead of him dieing those many years ago, that _they_ died many years ago" Sybil took her eyes from his lips only a knot of confusion crossed her face before realisation hit her.

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Notes: I was not to sure about then ending as I dumped a lot of information on you but there is a hell of a lot more to come, so stay tuned. Thanks for reading and rating and reviews are appreciated.

By the way if you did not figure out why Crimson helm is here then look at the title and that should practically tell you along with the explanation above.

**Next chapter: The Crimson moon**

**Preview**_**: My name is Crimson helm.**_

Thank you!


	3. The Crimson moon

The Crimson Moon

Miria and her comrades retreated from the battle from the two forces. Miria had a gut feeling that staying to finish the fight would not work in their favour, instead she had ordered for a complete withdrawal.

Yuma was heavily wounded and needed to regenerate undisturbed, the rest were slightly injured as well but nothing that would become a hindrance while moving.

It had only been two minutes since they left the battle scene in an advanced run but already they were being followed and caught up to with amazing speed. The Crimson men had been defeated and a more troublesome enemy had emerged to take their place.  
Miria calculated in her mind the odds and decided to take a risk. "Clare, come with me, the rest take Yuma to those hills and wait there. If we are not there within the next four hours then consider us dead." She said stopping to look over her comrades for disagreement and as always, found none.

They were a team that had spent over seven years of companionship and friendship; they grew from one another and trusted one another with the most life risking situations.  
Miria recalled when Clare had awakened both her arms in a training session. They were trying to discover their control in their half-awakened form, they risked it and had reaped many results from the dangerous exercise yet they had encountered multiple life threatening situations.

Clare had went berserk and the only they could have possibly brought her back would have been getting close and pulling her back to half awakened state. Clare had cleared her mind for all six of them to pull her back without injury.

At the time they had all been gripped with fear, fear of the coming loss of their comrades, fear of losing someone within a blink of an eye. They had too much pain to handle alone and so they relied on each other to carry the pain, the souls inside, and the burden.  
The group nodded before proceeding on leaving Clare and Miria to wait for the approaching enemy. Clare pulled out her sword to look down at the blade; battered and with deep cuts running across it. Clare doubted she could face anything that rivalled Duph's high density hide let alone these men with their armour and swords.

She had wondered where these crimson warriors had come from, foreign, that much was obvious yet the fact that they were half-yoma warriors like her puzzled her. It was maybe because of the yoma living in foreign lands or the people themselves, whatever the cause its effect was becoming a threat to her. What purpose did they have here?  
She knew about armies and legions of half-yoma warriors but not about their biography. Perhaps the three crimson men were part of an army.   
She raised her head as three warriors descended in gold armour, their blades and armour covered in blood splatter marks and entrails. Their visors reflected the sunlight and there swords sparkled a magnificent blue hue through its sapphire blade.

Clare sheathed her blade but held the handle while Miria let her own, no, Deneve's blade by her side, watching for any sign of aggression. The golden men seemed to relax a bit for some reason while Clare also seemed to relax slightly as they did so. The one golden warrior on the left looked behind them before mumbling.

"Aqua, you left one alive" He said looking to the one in the centre of the group. His voice was smooth and polished with a slight note of advanced intelligence and perfection. The man being spoken to turned his head to his comrade before looking to Clare and Miria.  
"I let him go, as a messenger to his Commander." The man now known as Aqua spoke. He then walked up to her the two and they quickly tensed up before he raised a hand to them. "I do not wish to fight; you are no enemy of mine. In fact, you are more of an ally than an enemy." He said steadily walking forward before Miria lifted her blade in warning.

"You may not be our enemy but you are still a threat" She said with a flat voice, hinting at nothing and everything a good tactic to keep neutral ground. The man lowered his hand but kept his position.  
"The Crimson prowlers wanted your lives and our job is to protect those from any non-human being even if they are half-human. Judging by your clothes and attitude towards I can summarise you are deserters or mercenaries, no?" He asked as Miria remained silent yet Clare let go of her control of body language and the men easily read her body's answer.

"I thought so."

Miria glanced at Clare who looked at Miria in silent apology. Miria turned her head back towards the golden person, her silver eyes locking in on the protective visor.

"And if we are? What will you do with such information" She asked not certain if that was truly the right choice yet knew she could say little else as a defence.

"Nothing, don't get me wrong, we normally hunt down deserters because almost all join the Crimson prowlers yet you opposed them and as such you are no enemy of mine. I will not strike you if you will not strike me, I will take a strike for you if you take a strike for me. The saying is old yet wise, you thought our enemy and took many blows to your group and so we are in your debt." He said bowing slightly.   
Clare tilted her head to the left slightly in confusion. "In debt… how could they be? They had been the ones to defeat those Crimson prowlers as they called them, and they had fought alone," her mind spoke.

None of her comrades even bothered to defend the golden men let alone take strike. Clare chalked it up to a different meaning or some hinted metaphor she had missed, either way she would use this situation to her advantage even if Miria was cautious and rightly so. However before she could speak the Golden warrior's words hit her eardrums.

"Your swords…perhaps an upgrade, they are obsolete and weak against foreign blades. The organisation never really thought your numbers and your death toll was worth as much as me or my men." The man said gesturing at Miria's broken blade.

Miria raised her claymore to eye level to look over the metal, it was like looking at some bent piece of metal that was picked off the street, damaged, slightly bent and falling apart.

The steel needed at least repair to pose effective against even a Yoma, though the sword's design and core elements were born from another land and only slight repair could be done here. That was what she would like to think but the blade was too damaged to even have something as basic as that, she looked past her blade to the golden man with a placid expression.

"I am listening"

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Riful looked over her subordinates with a critical eye. Over the past 4 years she had managed to harvest up the organization's deserters and wanderers, some had been willing, others non caring, and a few opposing but they were all changed and transformed into her comrades. She had a nice total of 13 with two more hunting for food while the rest congregated in a castle they had taken roughly a year ago.

The 13 stood in front of her as she sat on a throne made of marble, she had her legs crossed as she tried to adjust to brilliant yet itchy silk black dress. Only two men were in her growing forces, they had been laying low in her area until she started to recruit more Awakened beings. Thanks to the Yoma under her control in the western plains had been easy to bribe the males to her allegiance with the proposition for easy food.

Duph stood at her side with a table in front of him; a pile of intestines lay on top of it with blood spilling out onto the floor and to pour on top of small bodies, bodies belonging to now deceased children by his feet.

The eleven women were giving their report of the Crimson men roaming around their land, apparently they were foreign and were more powerful then most claymores.

Apparently their leader was headed to take the west and most possibly Riful's rule as well. Riful herself was slightly aggravated that her subordinates had little information and more at Duph's manners, she was not a happy lady.

"You" She said pointing at a woman dressed in a white dress with a servant's choker around her neck. She was Yoma servant and one of many who worked around to maintain the castle. "Get me a glass of the old era wine" She ordered and the Yoma woman bowed and moved to complete her task.

Riful turned her head back to her second in command, not Duph for he was too stupid to be used as a commander, She used a claymore ranked number six in a very old generation just a few years after Riful's own, now she was Riful's second in command and had great power to boot.

The woman was dressed in a battle dress with metal plating on her arms, legs, chest and shoulders with blonde flowing hair going down her back all the way to her rear. Her cobalt eyes stared at most with dispassion unless it was one she respected such as Riful.

"How many have you seen in?" She asked with a cute frown, not at all liking a battle when the numbers had been steadily increasing.  
"I calculated around 18 approaching with many more to come, though I have some rather bad news on their leader" Riful's second in command said looking to the ground in shame and not daring to meet Riful in the eye.

"Tell me Reina" Riful asked leaning in with a serious expression etched on her wondrous face.

"Their leader seems to be in our territory and has made several passes around this very castle, I fear he may be plotting an assignation on your life" Reina said looking back into Riful's eyes with concern.

"Oh, I don't think so" A voice said behind Riful's throne.

A smile

A sword

A slash

A jet of blood

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A battle raged across Tenenta, buildings were destroyed and blood caked the streets. Men, women and children ran from here to there, Claymores ran with Golden Epitome warriors at their side to fight against Crimson prowlers. The battle was becoming a garden of destruction as the one peaceful city was engulfed in war.

Arrows were notched before being released into claymore and Epitome alike. A Sapphire edge cleaved into a Crimson body, an arm was cut into bits before being regenerated in an instant.

Techniques and skills were being shot used like water to the poor and thirsty, heads, arms, legs, torsos, fingers, and ears and so on covered the streets and houses.

Buildings fell on them selves to also crush the cowering families inside as they lost their support due to damage. Fields were cut and decimated, cattle were slaughtered and farmers suddenly slammed into poverty.

For over four thousand years war had been kept clean from these lands, battle and hunts but nothing as extreme as now. Books wrote about what was now taking place but instead set in an almost forgotten past.  
Yoma versus Yoma was a war that annihilated and harvested the weak to feed to the strong, that war was catastrophic on incalculable levels. This time the war against Half-human half-yoma would be the one to push the monstrosity of war to hellish levels.

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Raki Sat in front of a fire, watching his arm regenerate forcefully yet slowly. He wanted to see every detail and experience the pain of having his flesh exposed. Pain was the only thing that made him feel more human, Apart from his looks and senses.

Priscilla head moved from his lap to his face to engage him in a loving kiss, one he did not return with as much enthusiasm. She whimpered a bit trying to encourage him to place more effort in the kiss, not wanting to upset her. He pushed his tongue into her mouth.  
Raki got up from the bed, leaving Priscilla to watch as his arm instantly regenerated while he opened up a dresser near the door of the grand room. Raki stood naked as he pulled out an article of clothing and placed it over his arm not noticing Priscilla move up behind him to embrace him in a warm hug.

He looked behind him at her nude form only managing to see her brown hair before he took the last piece of clothing and turned to look her in the eye. Brown met brown and Priscilla moved in for another embrace yet Raki shrugged out of it to move past her, she turned and whimpered her worry.

"It's not you Priscilla, it's these dream I'm having. Every time I close my eyes to fall asleep I am hit with another nightmare, the same one I have been having ever since I awakened." He stated placing the clothes on the bed while picking up his original served limb. He threw it in the fire before turning to get changed into his usual wear.

Priscilla watched him with worry as he changed; she voiced her thoughts in one word which caught him off guard. "Worried…" She said quietly making Raki turn to face her as he belted up his leggings.  
His face turned to one of a sad smile as he spoke. "Don't be, these nightmares can't hurt me and as long as I remain me, nothing is to be worried about. I'm going to go look for some food, maybe some delicious ones will be travelling past the area." He said standing up and pulling on a chained shirt before going to a metal cabinet with his armours and weapons inside of it.

He had difficulty placing on his shoulder and back armour yet Priscilla helped him with it. He knew armour was not needed but he wanted to look like himself, to be himself before his change, before Isley offered him to turn into hanyin hanyou to save his fading life.  
He stood up, his body was covered in bronze armour, metal plating going up his body like dragons scales. He pulled on his helmet, it was a crimson red, and ever since his dreams he had searched for a helmet, a crimson one no less. It was odd that he would go to such lengths as to leave Isley's fortress to look for said helmet without even telling Priscilla.

He nodded to Priscilla before moving to the door, however, stopped as he noticed Priscilla starting to get dressed in outside clothing.   
"Priscilla, I want to be on my own for a while. Like I said before, it is not your fault, however these dreams are proving to be my detriment and I need time alone to piece them together, to make sense of them. Understand?" he asked, his arm on the door as faced her.  
She made a moan of disagreement but stopped getting changed, a clear signal that she understood albeit not in agreement with his methods. "Thank you" Was all he said before moving outside and into the halls of the fortress.

Guards and maids were busy getting into positions and cleaning the fortress for Isley's return arrival this evening and a feast was being prepared for his success against Crimson clad assaulters at the borderline of the south.

Raki could care less as he moved towards the stairs leading to the balcony of the massive fortress. He wanted to fly today; the clouds always gave the answers he wanted.

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Duph fired a rod at the figure which impacted against the wall not far from the acrobatic figure. The figure dashed towards Duph as he fired rods at it, the figure dodged with great agility before jumping onto Duph's massive arm. Sharp iron hard tentacles forced the figure off of Duph's arm before somersaulting away from sharp spikes being shot rapidly towards the person.

The figure landed with a boyish smirk. The figure was that of a young man dressed in a blue sleeveless elastic and leather shirt with black outlining, then followed by black trousers with a gold trimming.  
He wore black and blue strapped shoes and to accompany his look was two pure gold bands on each upper arm and a pure black spiked claymore attached to his back. His face was the most striking feature of his profile. Death white, blue eyes and sparkling gold twirls flowing from his scalp to back of the neck.

"All I said was; I don't think so. What was wrong with that, I was saying that Crimson helm would not hurt you on the contry, contry con-"

"Contrary?" Riful offered

"Yeah, contrary, he wants to form an alliance with you. From what we heard you were looking for warriors and why not have ours. You know they are stronger then any of this land's…claymores was it? Anyway why not? Crimson helm could do with a partner, possibly a mate as well!" the Awakened being said with great enthusiasm.

"Don't fuck around with us!" Duph said lowering his arm to point at the golden haired youth, however iron hard tentacles folded around his arm making it point away from the youth. Duph looked to Riful in confusion.

"Hold on Duph, I want to hear what he has to say" Riful said as Reina and 12 others surrounded the youth ready to attack at any given moment. Riful wanted to know more about these Crimson prowlers and their leader, yet she also needed the information just in case things came to the worse case scenario. Despite her looks she was border lining passing over 800 years old, she was a warrior and one that had been through many experiences.

She knew what to look out for and what needed to be left alone. She knew a small problem could develop into a great one and she knew a big problem cold degenerate to a small one.

She had been through it all and had seen it all; Riful had over 700 years of combat and survival experience. As such she was not going to let even a scrap of information pass her, if it meant giving her that little edge in battle then she would grab it by the horns.

"We have a common enemy; Dual horn" He said making Riful lift a delicate eyebrow at him. "Um, you all know of the yoma wars before our time and the creation of hanyin hanyou, right?" earning a nod from Riful along with a few of a few of her subordinates.

"Eh, you mean us being half of greater Yoma?" Duph asked like a child asking about something as simple as what two plus two was. The youth looked at Duph's expression before looking back at her.

"Anyway, Dual horn lives inside of this Awakened being known as Priscilla, I'm sure you know of her considering we only found out two days ago"

Riful chose to speak not wanting to leave any stone unturned. "Why do you think we are enemies?" Riful said with an almost charming voice one that made the youth visibly relax.

"Well, not enemy, parse, more like hostile neighbours or land owners with the desire to one day take the others land from the other.

Crimson helm wants to help you because quiet frankly he considers Priscilla and Isley his enemy as they both were implanted with the horns of dual horn himself." The youth said disappearing and reappearing at Riful's side, the others looked up in shock and irritation at his speed while Riful just turned her face to keep eye contact.

"Why does Crimson helm hate this Dual horn and more importantly why does he not get rid of me? Surely with his forces it could possible if he does not have the power to defeat me" She said with an innocent smile laced with warning. The youth kept his smile and widened it to show long sharp shark like teeth inside his maw.

"Why don't you ask him? He will be waiting for you at the lake not far from the town known as Tolko, you know the place where the trees are dead and black compared to the rest of the forest." The youth said suddenly jumping away and out the high window as Riful tried to ensnare him in her tentacles. "See you there!"

Riful watched him disappear out of view before she sensed some gargantuan yoki hit her senses. She restrained her powers yet the others released their own in an instinctive action to try and oppose the mind raking power.

Riful could compare such power to her own yet was not as naive to deny the truth. She turned her limbs back to their human form before turning and making her way down the steps passing a transformed yoma servant with her wine in hand.

"Where are you going?" Duph asked almost upset at her sudden leave yet slightly agitated by the fading large yoki his senses were alerting him to.

"Why to see this Crimson helm of course" Riful said turning with a gorgeous smile "And I must look my best of course" She said slightly lengthening her features and changing their maturity to that of a 20 year old woman.

Her beauty was that to a flaw, no bad angles and a fully developed body with a now stacked chest, hourglass figure and a perfectly round rear, she was an epitome of what any man would want.

The others looked on in shock while Duph had a finger in his mouth as drool poured by his large feet. Reina stepped forward almost too shocked for words. "Lady Riful, you look beautiful" She said watching as Riful lifted up her long hair to throw it over her shoulder.

"Yes, this would have been my form if I had reached full adulthood in my time as a claymore before I awakened. I may have been a princess in my past life but the actual truth is shrouded to me" She sighed before waving her hands in dismal at them. "I digress, I will see you soon, and make sure to not allow any of these 'Crimson prowlers' in until I give the go ahead. Take care," she said evaporating as if she was part of the air itself, off to her chambers to find an appropriate size dress for her new form.

One of the male awakened beings looked at the drooling Duph before muttering. "How the fuck did this slobbering thick, ugly headed bastard get a woman like her?"

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It was dark, night swept over the skies like a hand of darkness reaching to snuff out the sun. The moon shone a beautiful pale light down to the earth caking the world in a wonderful glow.

Crickets played their melodies, rabbits and squirrels hunted noisily for food, leaves and sycamores covered the grand giving it a pastel orange colour and granting the earth a soft albeit, pinch feel.

Owls cooed to one another and nocturnal creatures started to come out to play in their field of the night. Suddenly the rabbits stood, ears moving left and right, twitching at every sound, the owls stopped cooing and the crickets stopped playing.

Riful herself, dressed in a glittering black silk dress, walked on top of the sycamores with gentle grace making little to no sound as she moved with an ethereal grace that none could match. Instead of fleeing the creatures stayed, recognising the yoma-like creature as just another part of nature.

Unlike humans and predators, yoma did not tend to eat wildlife or what it had to offer, yoma were seen as monsters to humans but the same could be said for humans to animals.

The yoma beings were just another part of nature that could share deep coexistence to the point of understanding and basic communication. Most yoma, who are seen talking to animals while in their human form, are called shamans having the power to communicate with nature.

Riful enjoyed the rhythmic note the crickets played and the soft soothing coos of the owls, she even enjoyed the feeling of a squirrel climbing her to find a nice mode of transportation and a satisfying perch on her delicate shoulder.

She walked along the orange sycamores and twigged path with interest as she looked up to see the fall moon through arching branches trying to cut off her source of illumination.

The trees were pitched black and she had to stop to examine them. She walked up to one and looked over its black yet surprisingly healthy form. Riful placed a small exquisite hand on the tree before half closing her eyes in concentration.

She let her yoma energy work through the tree to feel out its roots and health in small bursts of yoki. The wind blew making her hair waft in the air as sycamore and tree levees floated in the air giving her a perfect portrait of the nature goddess herself.

She stepped back not quite sure as to why they were as black as they had seen no fire and had been very resourceful in their ingredients for survival. Deciding she could dwell on it some other time she decided to move away as the squirrel on her shoulder jumped off and onto the tree before crawling up like a spider finally catching its prey in its web.

She continued her journey to the designated area whilst humming all the way. She thought more of her situation and what it could mean for her future life, before it had been her and Duph, and nothing more.  
She had met him after he had chased down a human girl and tried to be her friend because he thought she was pretty, however, the young woman knew what Duph was and had fled in terror.

"…Please! Come back, I won't hurt you, I promise…let's be friends, I promise to protect you. Why are you running away, why are you running away!?" Duph had screamed at the girl before transforming and grabbing her legs between his huge thumb and index finger.

The girl kept screaming in fear of her life, she was in panic and Riful just watched from a cliff with an emotionless expression not to pleased this yoma had taken her prey.

"Tell me why! Why are you running, that idiot tried to rape you and I killed him…and his friends to and their families just so they can't get revenge on you. I did…STOP SCREAMING!" Duph had shouted loosing his temper and accidentally snapping the girls legs, causing her to scream and cry in pain in realisation of her coming death.

"Please…" She had sobbed, her dress being covered in blood while it ran down the back of her neck to wash her golden curly hair crimson. "Please don't kill me" She whimpered.

"Then why won't you stay!" He growled.

"Because you're a monster, you killed my best friend, I loved him and we kissing, there was no rape!" She screamed in frustration at her overall predicament and almost everything else from her broken legs to the ruined make up crawling down to her forehead into her hair due to her tears.

"I thought you loved me?" Duph said heart broken, his great frame placing on an almost comical withdrawal of shock.

"Who would ever love an ugly, stupid monster like you!?" She cried out losing all tact due to her injuries and the way they were being worsened by the weight of her body pulling on them while Duph still kept her upside down in the air.

"I'm not a monster…I love you, but you were seeing another man?" He said his voice becoming deep and feral "I watched over you and kept your home safe from other yoma, I made sure no one would bully you or call you names I protected you for ten years and this is how you say thanks…I'm not the monster! You ARE!" He roared slamming her body into the ground with all his reinforced steel crushing strength splattering her body onto the cobbled floor.

Riful could see the girl was some how alive yet was not for long as Duph started to pound into the ground with angry tears shouting 'you are' over and over again. At this point Riful felt sad for the obviously misfortunate Duph and his lack of intelligence.

The lack of it was hurting him and Riful wanted to go and stop him, to help him cope with his pain, being young she was still very susceptible to even the weakest of reasons to feel emotional.

So she went and placed a hand in his to guide him to the right path.   
Looking back on it she never regretted taking him in yet, he himself was not much of a lover as conversations was always one sided and he had a hard time listening and an even harder time remembering.

Horrible mannerisms, despite Riful's threats and warnings, small vocabulary, not a very charming or average looking face to look at, pathetic in his sexual activities and incredibly clingy. She felt more like a mother than a lover to him.

She stopped as she reached an open lake sparkling water rippled along its surface as circles flowed from where fished dived in an out as they tried to escape a predator in the water. She looked around to find the weirdest and oddest sights of her life.

The trees gave an aura of blood red crimson despite being an ultimate black a few minutes ago. A flicker on the lake made her turn her attention back towards it.

She watched the surface until it became still before something caught her eye. She looked further at the forming image and almost gasped to see the moon except it was a crimson red. "What in the world…"   
"Beautiful is it not? A symbol of an escalating conjuncture that will become bloody impedimenta of this world… a problem that will fill the war rotten earth with disconsolateness that offers no cure." Her head snapped up and she found a magnificent sight.

A colossal being greater than Duph or even herself combined stood in the lake on all fours, its feet were disappearing in the twilight lake. A scaly yet almost oily light gold skin covered its form with an elongated maw and two tusks piercing out of the mouth of the beast, long purple tentacles shot from the back by its shoulder blades and curled into the air. Birds and wildlife moved along the being as to shrimp to a whale. Fish jumped and squirrels landed onto the moss patterning randomly across the serpentine behemoth.

What fixed Riful's gaze was a being that to her senses, her yoma senses, did not even exist. A man sat cross legged on the top of the Yoma's head as if the creature was some kind of elephant and he was a prince looking over the lands from above.

The figure was dressed in black leggings and a black hooded jacket with red trimmings detailing it. Underneath the sleeve of the right arm was a silver scaly plated gauntlet with purple symbols etched across it.

The face was cloaked in the black red rimmed shadow of his hood, but that was not the greatest feature. A crimson cape wafted ethereally in an invisible air, it was wrapped around the man's arm as though it clung to him for life.

The cape like cloak reached out and wafted in the sky letting light pass through as the Crimson seemed to fade in one place before darkening in the other. The moon shone through.

However it was coming through red due to the crimson cloak that waved in the air like a slow fire, curling around the behemoth before letting go to play on the lakes surface.

Riful stared at the cloak as it size seemed to rival her own true forms expansive size. "Yet the maelstrom of pain and death can be thwarted dear Riful of the west. A conglomerate of my warriors and yours may be the link that may illuminate the path to peace. I give you a reconciliation of my warrior's attempts to forcefully enter your lands with a gift that you shall name. Be without suspicion, for I will deliver with no slack or precious time disposal. Name it." He said bowing his head a little.

Riful could not think instead she responded. "I wish for a claymore by the rank of number four, her name is Miata and she is currently looking for another named Galatea. Bring them both and you will be forgiven." Riful said with a slight jerk in her voice as she tried to comprehend the awakened being before her. She had never expected something like this, not in her wildest dreams.

The man nodded his head slowly and suddenly the tentacles on the behemoth outstretched towards the glistening stars. They glowed with yoki as doves flew from the creature creating a magnificent scene of the beast standing in the water. Glowing purple wings outstretched and standing diagonally and in the middle between the tentacles was a moon coloured a crimson red and to finish were the almost glowing, due to light from the moon casting through the crimson cloak, crimson red dove feathers falling to the surface of the lake.

A translucent purple sheet attached between the tentacles with small purple veins running between them creating two wings (Reference: Jean's wings in her awakened state.) that arched to meet each other before flapping down and propelling the creature out of the water a few metres due to its weight.

Riful caught herself from her awed expression and her mind worked enough to ask one incredibly vital question. "Who are you?" She called and the man looked down at her with nothing but a shadow for a face as his cloak stretched to imitate the behemoths wings but only twice the colossal size.

He disappeared as soon as his own crimson wings came down with eye unmatchable speed. No displaced air or even a sound was vibrated through the area as the creature and the man had disappeared as if they had never been there.

Suddenly the lake parted and a blast of hurricane like air pushed open the lake and rooted the trees. Riful covered her face from the water being forced from the lake area as loud almost deafening yet calm words hit her eardrums.

"My name is Crimson helm."

Notes: That chapter took ages to do. I had trouble with the middle but it turned out alright however it was a bit short for my liking but oh well. I hope you all enjoyed reading it and reviews are heavily appreciated.

Next chapter: Crimson mother  
"Mama?" Miata cried.  
"Come to me, my child" Riful cooed.

Next chapter will be over 20 pages so almost double the size of this chapter.

Thanks to my beta reader for taking the time to check my spelling and grammar : p


	4. Crimson eyes

**Crimson eyes**

Galatea walked across the spongy soft grass of the damp woodland. The air was slightly misty creating a white coating that was followed by the ever present cold chill, the leaves of the over coated oak trees gently coating the muddy grass and dirt in a fine sheet of green and brown. The wind was still and area quiet with a few chirps of early morning birds singing their thankfulness for another day. The soft rhythm of a close by lake trickled against Galatea's ears while her feet carried a soft squishy beat spawned from her steps.

A brown cloak wrapped around her body concealing the clothes underneath. She had a four heavily filled bags slung across her right shoulder, a collection of what she had managed to harvest from the farm she had just came from. It was a reborn ritual, proceed to the farm very early in the morning, farm a small piece of land along with labour work around the farm and then she could reap from what she had sowed.

Galatea jumped a large pond with ease and landed with soft thud, the area around her feet being particularly lower than the rest of the land due to the daily abuse it received from the woman. Galatea's hair swept up into the air as a powerful wind blew towards her.

She stepped past the trees and into bright clearing to appear on a peak over looking a small village. The sun was shrouded by the heavy clouds above. She could easily sense the melancholy emanating from it. She smiled to herself though, happy to see her village of birth, a village that would at least give her smiles that were not fake or manipulative.

The town was the place of her birth and home, when her family was killed by a yoma attack it was only a matter of time before the organisation decided to grab her and turn her into a warrior. However, the village people fought to keep her until…

She shook her head decided to carry on into the village. The walk was short, however, nice and sweet. She entered the village by a few welcoming some warm, some cold and some suggestive. Either way, to her, it felt good enough to be even be recognized by others as she walked into the village. She stopped by a shop to purchase some more water in exchange for some of the food she had harvested this very morning. The shop manager was friendly and he was old, he was one of the ones who knew her well when she was a mere infant. She thanked the man and made her towards her house.

The village was still waking up but the few people who were up did nothing to avoid her, not even a hateful or fearful stare landed on her. The town had gotten used to her presence and they should have after six years of living there. When she left the organization she had searched for a secluded area yet, her legs had moved her towards her home village, like a cat instinctively knowing where her home is. The village at first were scared, more of her reason being here then there. Once she explained she wanted refuge there had been some apprehension until a villager had asked her name as if trying to confirm a certain detail. After she had spoken her given name, it quickly activated lights in the villager's head mostly the elderly but some not far from her own age. The welcome was much better but it took time before people truly felt no fear or real anger towards her. She had made friends and often, during the week, spends time with them relaxing, socializing, eating, laughing, and enjoying the things that made her feel…human.

Galatea approached a small house crafted from her own sweat and the help of a few of the other villages. It was modest and something she called home. She remembered when it used to be scandalised with graffiti and fruit, when people feared her or children would take out there boredom on the silver eyed woman. Eventually a few visits to parents and playing with the children helped stop the problem along with an announcement from the headman.

As she approached the house she stopped sensing yoki approaching from not too far away. Whoever they were, they were suppressing their yoki making it seem small yet, hid the power inside. _2… 3…5hanyin hanyou yoki signatures… male?_ She mentally asked herself. However, as she turned to look into the distance and better examine the incoming group, a man tapped her on the shoulder causing Galatea to blink before turning to look up at the headman.

He was a full head taller then her and even though claymores inherited their attributes from their yoma flesh and mothers, they did not inherit any heightening effects. It was true to say that Galatea was taller than the average female but not by much and not enough to be taller than the average male. Intimidation was in her eyes and her expression which was always crossed between smiles and mixed between confidence and analytical facial expression, it also helped with attracting males which seemed to be quite easy in this town.

The headman was tall and rippling with muscles, he was roughly in his fifties with a grey beard and black and grey streaked hair. He was very healthy and fit and had always been that way, she remembered him in her child days when he used to work in fields until the previous decided to expire and leave him with the job. It had proved to be a good and wise final decision that had been crucially beneficial with Galatea's new, or old, lifestyle. He helped her out with any problems and had taught her had to farm, takes care of animals and even helped enhance her technique with the sword with the uniqueness of his foreign father's ways of the blade.

"How may I help you, sir?" She asked with a bright friendly smile, he did not return it which was fine. He rarely smiled unless it was to be diplomatic. However, today she could tell something was on his mind.

"Galatea," He said "Did you not once told me, when you came back to this village, that there would be no one following from the organization that took you?" He asked with little tone in his voice, it showed he was not going to hint any problems out until he got an answer from her then see what would unveil from it. She liked that about him, he treated her no different from anyone else apart from his caring wife, strict, strong and as firm as a wall.

"I told you no one from that organization would come here to stir up trouble," She said while dimming her smile a bit, she respected him greatly and knew that smiling while he spoke to you was not a wise choice to make. He made an exception for her as it was natural for Galatea, however, when she was in trouble, especially if she recalled him when she was at a young age, that it was best to smile little or none at all. He did not shout but he would make your life a living hell for a week which meant a lot of chores and jobs and run around the village, most being to do with cleaning and getting rid of dog excrement off the streets.

He nodded at her words re-thinking his approach and altering his question. "You also told me that the only warriors in your organization were women and the men were your leaders, correct so far?" He asked as he turned to the side to look into the distance. His working clothes, being that of trousers, sandals, shirt and gloves, painted the image of man who worked for his village by not only sorting out financial and social problems, but also through sheer hard work and sweat from his brow to repair, farm, tend, and maintain the village.

"Umhm," She sounded in reply and he nodded again before pointing in the direction of the village gate where five golden clad warriors sat waiting for permission to enter the village.

"Then whom, may I ask, are they?" He finished.

Galatea already knew they were there before the headman had came. She did not expect them to move so quickly from one place to the next but then again, judging from there clothes they were foreign. She decided to voice the theory in her mind. "Foreign men of another organization, here to fight those Crimson prowlers that the town is talking about?" She asked in question knowing that she was not far off the mark. She watched them as they all stared at her in what she could only try and guess as fascination. She could see through the dark reflective helmets they wore.

The headman looked at her before looking back to them until he turned back to her. "I want you and a few men to enquire on what they want and need, if they seem hostile then send them on their way, if not…they have access to the village as long as they cause no trouble. Understood, Galatea?" He asked with a raise of one eyebrow, she admitted her eyes were striking but his sea deep blue eyes could make a crying infant silence.

"Understood…Malachi," She said with a playful giggle making the man look up to the sky in exasperation before he waved his hand in dismissal and went on his way to see to how the flocks were coming along.

Over the years Galatea had received the tacitly agreed position of guardian of the village along with the trained guards as well. She had adapted into the role with significant ease and eventually the headman asked if she could help with on the fly guard and policing services. She had accepted saying that it would help repay him for what he had done and what he was going to do for her in the future. The job was prime on easy with a little difficulty being accepted as a member of the guards and not a woman they could try and gain some sexual release from.

She walked up to the gate encountering two other guards on the way. They were both dressed in light armour covering their chests, arms, legs, and groin, the armour was weak and made up of stone and leather. Not very comfortable and hard to tolerate thanks to being cleaned once a month, Galatea had gotten used to the smell but refused to wear it, there was some things you could make a woman wear and that was not one of them. A young male on her side smiled at her and she smiled back, his name Bale and was new to the guards by only a few months. It was obvious to anyone that he had a light crush on Galatea though, Galatea was friendly to him and helped him out when she could. She did keep her distance however, for there was a young woman who was very fond of him yet, very shy.

"Morning my lady," He said brightly with a boyish smile. She nodded back not being too bright yet, not being to subdue to seem uncaring.

"Morning Bale," She replied before turning to the man on her left. "Morning, Krete!" She said nudging him lightly and he only grunted as always, he tended to be a man of few words but when he did speak his words made an impact.

"So, what do we got this morning?" He asked looking up to find the lounging golden armoured men. Two stood, another was sprawled on the floor like a dead carcass baking in the sun, another was propped against the wall and the last was busy checking his sword for dents. Bale gasped while Galatea's eyes narrowed at the sapphire bladed metal sword. She could identify the yoma energy sleeping inside of the blade, it seemed almost dead just waiting to be reactivated with a spark of yoki yet, the make up of yoki that made up the blade showed that the blade would drain the yoki instead of reproducing it. "Odd…" wondered Galatea

She glanced at Krete as he straightened up, his huge 6'6 frame standing out and towering over her 5'10. The golden men started to move a bit but not much, the one on the floor raised his head before going back into a corpse like position. "What is your business here?" Krete asked in authority.

The two standing walked over and stopped six steps away. "We have come here for food, water and a place we could stay in your humble village," The one on the left said, the light reflecting off the gold armour and into Galatea's eyes. She moved her face out of the way before Bale decided to speak.

"H-how many will want lodging and will you pay?" Bale asked remembering the basics of his lessons in negotiating with foreigners. Short, quick and simple questions yielded short, quick and understandable answers. Fortunately, these men had a slight accent in their speech but nothing that would make any words unintelligible.

The gold figure looked behind him and then towards the hill where a small convoy was coming over. The Gold man turned back to look at Galatea instead of Bale. His reflective visor was becoming a nuisance to her and she frowned at his rudeness to not reveal himself. "12 plus our leader…only he will be lodging in the village along with his retainer and right hand man. My men, however, need food and water. Not much, but enough to supply us all. We are Half-human half-yoma and as such we do not need as much food as the average male." He said turning to retrieve a sack that was very large and had a rattle that any witness would know it too be the sound of gold bars.

He deposited the white, dirty, brown bag on the floor allowing the opening to reveal hundreds of gold bars, Krete and Bale both leaned in with awe at the amount, both completely forgetting that they were standing in front of foreign claymores. Krete had his mouth slightly open while Bale looked like someone had placed the key to everlasting life right in front of him. Galatea raised a delicate eyebrow whilst smirking at the amount. "How many yoma did you kill to get this?" She asked conservatively, gesturing at the sack for emphasis.

The golden man looked at the sack before looking back up at her. He shook his head "Voracious eaters," he said simply and Galatea swore the man glanced at her two companions. It was just a trivial feeling.

The two guards looked up and then at each other. Krete turned and picked up a whistle that was tied around his neck. He blew and the high pitch sound vibrated across the village and within moments people came out of their houses or stopped what they were doing to come and help out. The whistle was used to summon villagers who were willing to do small jobs to earn some money or rent out rooms and give food and drink.

Gasps of surprise and low talk emanated from the gathering group at the golden men and the gold bars that were in the sack. Galatea turned to the golden man, "Pick it up and wait for your leader to arrive to speak with the villagers, you need to decide on the best bargains before giving away money," The gold man turned his head to the side like a dog questioning his master. Galatea almost giggled but covered a hand over her mouth and shrugged. "It's so the villagers do not get in the mindset of trying to steal our money or cheat you. He doesn't like that type of thing" She spoke to him. The gold man nodded before stepping away as the convoy approached.

Two golden armoured men were on each side, jogging at an average pace creating small dust clouds behind them. Two more were literally carrying a small carriage, obviously carrying someone inside. Galatea frowned at the weird mode of transportation but it did show that hanyin hanyou could use their strength for more than killing.

The headman walked up to the front of the villagers to stand by the guards and Galatea. He turned to her as her eyes were fixed to the carriage. However he knew she would her him. "What is going on, Galatea?" He asked in a no nonsense voice.

Galatea sighed and smiled mirthfully at the sky and tied not to giggle. The headman just made the most serious of situations seem so funny, just because he _was_ serious made it funny. "Well, it seems these men are foreign claymores, perhaps here to fight off those Crimson prowlers that have been going around lately. Besides that, they are here for some food, water and a few provisions for their next trip. They want lodging for two people yet, I am not sure what they intend to do with themselves." She said looking over the men before looking back to the carriage as a man stepped out.

She could feel his yoki despite his suppression and it was thick, very thick and large. The man stood with a black cloak covering his neck and shoulders all the way down to his ankles covering up most of his form. Luminous white hair spilled down his back, long and straight, perfectly cared for and beautiful in its own right.

The person turned to face her and a slight smile was plastered to his face, the bangs of his hair partially covering his left, silver, eyes. He walked up to the villagers who were waiting for him to come to them with some apprehension. Guards came out from their original posts to help strengthen the intimidation of the village, though, the effect it had was not worth the effort but it made them feel safer with someone at your back.

The white haired man walked to stop in front of Galatea his black shoes a few meters away from her brown. Galatea kept her smile and he kept his until his rose slightly and hers as well. She already knew she was going to like him.

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Miria, Clare and the Golden men, made their way to a hill and then to a cave not too far ahead, they were confronted by a ready Deneve and a non too enthusiastic Helen. Miria waved her hand for Deneve to lower her weak, battered and useless blade as the golden clad men were neither enemies nor allies. After the lengthy and in depth conversation they had had, it was safe to presume the "Epitome" warriors were willing to help anybody who would fight the Crimson prowlers and even more so, yoma.

"They won't hurt us, if they did then they would have done it by now." Miria called to her fellow Slashers as the small group of five made their way to the cave. They crouched down and entered the small area before moving to seat themselves around the healing and conscious Yuma, Tabitha and Cynthia.

"Who are they?" Deneve said gesturing with her hand to the crouched gold warriors.

"They are known as the Epitome. Male warriors from a different continent" Miria said looking over Yuma's wound while Clare focused on her own. She had little time to try and repair any previous damage which meant she had to wait until she had time to rest.

"Huh? Male warriors, but they have a much higher chance of awakening earlier than us," Helen leaning forwards to look at the golden men as they took their helmets off. Helen shifted to get a proper look at the three handsome men.

The leader, the one in the centre with the faded blue hair, spoke. "There are many types of snakes due to the land and environment, there are different types of environment and land, and there are different yoma due to environment and land. Our Yoma offer power us great strength yet give us pain which weakens after a while until it becomes an annoying sting. It is rare that we awaken unless under severe stress or a need for more strength." He said earning frowns and expressions of confusion from the occupants in the room. Clare and Miria had already been informed, so they were less then reactive.

"The perfect creation…" Tabitha murmured with some resentfulness which echoed across the other Slashers. They all knew the organization constantly strived for the perfect warrior and those that did not hold that standard were considered expendable.

The two Epitome warriors on the leader's side looked at each other before looking back. The one on the left of the leader spoke. "Back to basic of your question, my name is Aqua and on my right is our team leader, Cruor and to the farthest right is Nemus." The man said with a deep bow of the head allowing his deep blue hair to spill over his head before he looked back up to allow the hair to cascade down his back.

Deneve's eye were fixed on the smiling man and she shifted to get a better view of his profile. Strong, very well built, tall, yet slimmer than the very big and strong leader, Aqua's body spoke of a man refined in his strength and skill while being heavily enforced in his knowledge. She felt herself trying to picture his body in her mind.

The lean rippling muscles, the shine coming off the tanned skin as sweat from battle covered his body, the towering form, the strong legs, the filled and packed abdomen, the…She shook her head in wonder of her thoughts.

It was true that she fantasized about men, strong, willing, and controlling men, who could please her every need and protect her like a wall of love and devotion. She had found masturbation an excellent release of the desire that would grow in her lap. She had discussed it with her fellow Slashers and they all spoke of the desires of men. Clare had been the most withdrawn, knowing that opening her mouth would spark a comment about Raki from Helen and Raki was a "Off limits" area of conversation. Miria, Clare and Cynthia had been the only ones to not admit too having masturbated but whether or not they had was still to be discovered.

Now that they were surrounded by men who were not only compatible and understood where they came from, they started to fell urges and other sparks light up inside their, body, mind and soul. Thankfully the fact that they were not fully trustable helped sedate the urges and give support to their own restraint.

The Epitome warrior on the far left named Nemus left the cave to stand guard. A few moments after Cynthia stood before crouching to move past the men and out the cave as well, probably to go to the toilet.

Aqua smirked and decided to rest his back against the cave wall while Cruor sat on his rear and pulled out a flask of water. The Slashers looked at each other and Tabitha blushed before she giggled a bit. After that everyone got the message on what was going on with the two who had just left. Miria shifted apprehensively at the thought or Cynthia alone outside with a male she could not fully trust.

"So…, why are you here?" Helen asked. They were not enemies but not yet allies so why bring them here if all they were going to do was "Hang out". They must have had a purpose which provoked Miria and Clare to bring them back.

"They offer us protection until they can get us to an armoury to get new swords. Our old ones are becoming obsolete due to the Crimson Prowlers. The swords they use are bladed with Corundum, a very hard mineral that can beat our steel in every aspect. To make the blade more effective, the blades core is actually living flesh of a Yoma which reacts and makes the blade vibrate quickly due to the yoki being fed to the flesh from the wielder. The vibrating effect can cut through a blade with horrifyingly easy and our flesh; like paper. To combat these we need swords with the same function and durability, however, from what they tell have told me and Clare, it will take some training and work to get the blades to work with our yoki and not against it." She said before the leader, Cruor, decided to add as well.

"This does not even the playing field, unfortunately the fact that a good percentage of the Crimson prowlers are male meaning you all will be disadvantaged when it comes to fighting in almost every regard. You will have to use your brain and more to survive though I will advise you look we did the claymores of the organisation, that it is best to run or find an Epitome. They will fight a Crimson Prowler and won't give a damn about you unless your life is in danger." He said pulling out his blade to stroke it earning a thump of Yoki from the claymore.

Miria got up and decided to check on Cynthia as Cruor filled them in on the reason of the Crimson Prowlers presence in these lands.

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Cynthia had decided to guard the entrance to the cave along with Nemus after she had washed up and decided to stay outside instead of the cramped hot cave behind them. She looked at Nemus as he placed his helmet back on his head, the visor shooting light into her silver eyes and making her blink repeatedly.

Standing two meters away, Cynthia could not help but to stare at the man. Since his visor covered only a 150 angle view, he was not able to see Cynthia staring at him, her eyes up and down his manly featured covered body.

Noticing her yoki aura surrounding him, he Turned his head to view the girl, she quickly looked away to avoid his gaze on her. "_Shy girl?"_ his thought wondered, and began to scan her over, "_A beautiful shy girl at that…" _he mentally added smiling under his visor.

He made out three standing features from his view; a ravaging stunning face, her bust was large from the outline of the cloak she wore. And her rear perfecting shaped for the cloak to lie upon its fabric.

Lucky for him it was not apparent to her, his yoki raged more than hers yet it was sealed within. But for her… it was to vivid to be hidden, slowly she turned her head to face him despite her shyness of the man staring at her, a visible crimson blush highlighted across her face when she began to twitch a bit.

Suddenly Miria stepped out to find Cynthia standing uncomfortably close to the epitome warrior. She looked down with a blush before retreating back into the cave. Miria glanced at her before looking up at Nemus and he decided to look forward, she noticed his posture stiffened and his postures changed to that of a soldier standing near their commander. She gave him a good long stare before moving back into the cave to allow hint to relax now that she was gone.

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Sybil and Caliga walked through a stream with a harsh current. The force was nothing for their Yoma strength yet they walked through with sluggish movements and with a slightly annoyed posed, getting wet on a sunny day would be considered one of the main treats of the week, however, Sybil hated getting her clothing wet in dirty waters and Caliga's boots were filled with water becoming squishy and nasty.

Thankfully, the weather was nice and sunny with some clouds for occasional respites from the sun rays, the trees gave a comfortable feel to the nature around as the pair left the stream.

They marched onwards to the city of Litadel a fair city with a brigade of men and a ruling king, the king had requested the removal of a powerful awakened one that started to weekly slaughter of hundreds. Apparently the awakened being had been there for some time as their ancestors had called it the punishment of the sinful. Only recently, after the Crimson prowlers showed up, has the awakened being decided to make her move on the populace.

The king was also offering a very large sum of money, even by organization standards, for the additional purge of about ten or less Crimson prowlers who bullied the people for goods and beat soldiers whenever they tried to intervene.

Of course, the two of them were not the only ones and this assignment. Three other pairs, plus a leader pair were, going to help with the purge.

So here they were, marching their way to the check point just before Litadel city so they could meet up with their comrades. Sybil was looking forward to the interaction of the Epitome warriors with one another and she hoped her sisters would be happy to divulge their feelings on their appointed partners.

She was starting to like Caliga and hoped the other warriors would be some with more of a…She shook her head, not sure of the word she was looking for as it had left her head. She looked at the back of Caliga's golden armour as he marched up a slope, his boots making slushy noises that seemed to be irritating him. Deciding to get his mind of the irritant and instead give her information, she accelerated up the hill to walk at his side.

The sun was making the visor on his helmet shine with eye soaring intensity, she winced her eyes as she asked her question. "What are the Epitome warriors generally like?" this earned him to tilt his head to look at her as they reached the top of the hill. He shook his head and pointed down the hill.

She followed the direction of his finger toward two people standing together and looking up at the pair. Sybil leaned forward to peer at the two and stumbled forward to catch up with Caliga as he advanced. They went down the hill with added gravitational momentum before slowing down, she looked at the face of the claymore and smiled at the serious and soft spoken claymore she had met at the gathering not too long ago.

"Amelia!" She greeted and was greeted in turn by her friend.

"Number 25 Sybil, I find it very pleasant to be seeing you again and only within the space of a few days. I must say, I wish we had met in less hostile circumstances. However anything less hostile and we may have not been formed to meet again." The woman said before turning he gaze to Caliga. "This must be your Epitome warrior…" she started, gesturing for him to give a name.

He was about to answer when the other Epitome warrior spoke for him. "Caliga also number 25 of the 8th brigade, my brigade." Sybil focused her eyes towards the speaker with a quirked eyebrow. She glanced at Caliga who shifted at the awkwardness of the situation.

"May I ask who you are?" She said, folding her arms underneath her breasts and producing a frown. Amelia smirked slightly at the defensive posture as she stood beside her own partner.

"This is Forca number 18, like myself," She said trying to hide the mirth in her voice. Forca gave Sybil the once over as Amelia did the same to Caliga. "He is a very nice man when you get to know him, he is just hard to open up," Amelia explained earning a stubborn grunt from Forca.

"Shall we continue to the checkpoint?" Caliga suggested more than questioned pulling the others back into the mission given to them. Forca huffed, turned, and walked away while grabbing Amelia's hand and pulling her away.

The scene made Sybil quirk a delicate eyebrow in question at the scene and was answered by Amelia's shrug. She stepped in line as Caliga passed her to catch up with the other pair.

The march towards the checkpoint was mostly silent with little chatter from the women to one another while the men kept their peace, it was obvious shared a history and instead of bringing unnecessary and conflicting emotions into play, they kept a mutual agreement of acknowledgment and nothing more.

The clouds in the sky streaked towards the sun like white claws aiming to grasp the sun in its water vapour like grasp. Birds soared through out the land of the south; the most cultivated and peaceful land of all, holding an abundant amount of resources and power that beat all the other territories combined.

It seemed all manner of creatures wanted to make this land their own and it was an ongoing battle with creatures losing as much as they gained, making an equal balance of power in the southern verse.

Sybil's head shot up as she sensed the concentration of multiple yoki signatures, some average but the vast majority being very strong out of the whole six waiting ahead. It seemed Sybil and Amelia's pair was late or perhaps, the others just came early, either way, she did not appreciate being the last one to a appointed meeting point. It reflected badly on her character.

She stuck her nose up higher into the air and straighten her posture into a more dignified position, she notice Amelia do the same, however, only slightly, Amelia had inherit confidence and a sense of fully prioritised care which was the posh term for saying she only cared for things that caught her interest.

Sybil caught sight of her fellow claymores and their epitome warriors. She could tell a single digit from a mile away and most claymores knew her well, Rachel. The single 5 digit stood with arms folded and an air of a woman set to blow, beside her was a man who seemed to posses a quiet calm that conflicted with his bulky build and hard facial features, faded blonde hair that scraped at his shoulders in an unorganized mass of hair.

She noticed two epitome warriors standing close to their assigned claymores and Sybil wondered, not for the first time, whether who fellow sisters in arms had developed some type of relationship with the men.

"You're late and I hate people who keep _me_ waiting." Rachel started in cold and gruff tone prompting Amelia and Sybil to stand to their full height in a defensive posture, their partners seemed to think her words worth nothing and ignored her completely, they did nodded to the powerful man at her side who returned it with a nod.

The man was dressed in gold and blue cloth accompanied by plated gold armour and a silver and black cape, sapphire edged claymore sitting at his side. The other two warriors were dressed the same a Caliga and Forca with less armour.

Sybil sent a dirty look Rachel's way, causing the tomboy to snap. Rachel almost jumped from her position to stand in front of Sybil with a wave of roaring yoki, Sybil backed up a step as their yoki grinded for a moment before Rachel's began to push.

"Enough!"

A depressing wave of yoki squashed Rachel's causing the woman's eyes to widen in surprise. The voice had been distorted by yoki but Sybil could recognise it as Caliga's, the young man had turned on Rachel as soon as she had moved towards Sybil and it was obvious he did not approve of the volatile behaviour.

Sybil watched as Rachel turned on Caliga as she managed to get a grip on the other yoki. "And who the hell are you to order me?" Rachel challenged with a sneer and was about to continue until the man by the rock Rachel was at spoke up.

"Rachel, can you do me a favour?" He started earning a look of annoyance from her to him.

"What?" She barked out

He turned his head with yellow slit eyes and a wave of yoki seemed to course through him and into his throat, causing his voice to become deep and blood cold deadly, a spine chattering voice that promised pain if not giving in to the man's dominance. "Shut the _fuck_ up" He said with a dark scowl before looking back to the lake.

Whatever else was in the words pulled Rachel away from them with an angry glance and back to him, she stood at his side, quiet with eyes angrily averted. The soldier spoke as he stared at the sky above.

"We are gathered and we are ready, here is our mission…"

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	5. Crimson life

**Everything to gain, nothing to fear.**

Raki ran, his legs pumping his feet into the ground with great force and speed, his inhuman strength speeding him along the grassy plains before jumping high into the air. Due to the speed and momentum along with his huge jumping height he gained a very long air time of around a few minutes making most people perceive him to be flying.

He was on his way to Rabona; the holy city. It seemed the crimson prowler activity had wakened her up and she saw that the crimson prowlers as competition for her meal. She had sent a gruesome warning to Isley through the mangled body of a flying yoma messenger. Since Isley had left with Priscilla to Vilaion to speak to a previous number three awakened being and his cronies, which meant Raki had to see to the problem personally.

Agatha was a woman who disliked competition for food; a message from Isley warned him that he should be careful how he should approach her. She was very strong, yet very calm, her hunger and thirst for blood and guts drove her to kill any who stood in her way, albeit toying with them first.

The air whistled past him as he landed toward a large lake, he hit the water yet ran on, his feet hitting the water so quickly that he did not break the surface. Once he reached land he sped up and then jumped again into his state of flight.

He eyed a sign a mile ahead and his enhanced vision pointed out the words telling him to change his velocity left to reach Rabona that was 6 miles from his current position. He forced his body down to the ground and once he landed he changed his direction north west and jumped back into flight.

Rabona, he remembered going there as if it were only a few days ago… with Clare. Clare… it had been many years since he had last seen her… alive, he could not remember her face very well, just images that would pop up into his mind so and so.

He remembered his last encounter with her and the day he kissed her and vowed to find her again. Yet, he gave up on it, not because of lack of will or because of what he was. He gave up after his confrontation with Isley.

Raki had asked about the lights Priscilla was talking about 6 years ago and Isley finally came clean by telling him of the claymore slaughter and the numbers that were killed. Above half the number of existing claymores were sent to deal with the awakened army, only to be decimated very quickly. Once Raki figured the chance of Clare being in the huge battle and the chance of survival, well, his mind quickly concluded she was dead.

Next came was a fight that ended with one punch from Isley despite Raki's training and skill. Priscilla had watched and fought Isley out of anger, presenting Raki of the beast within and the power she carried with her. Raki had stopped her, not for Isley or her sake but so he could kill Isley himself when he became stronger.

Raki had trained and attempted many battles with Isley only to lose horribly every time and Isley began to lose patience with the constant fights. It got to the point where Raki became greater than Isley in his human form; so much better Isley had to revert to his Awakened form to beat Raki with a simple flick of a finger.

Raki suddenly grimaced at what happened next. Seeing no way to kill Isley at the time, Raki decided that his goal was to kill Isley and avenge Clare and her fallen comrades and that meant he would do anything, including putting yoma flesh inside him. Needless to say Raki had to make the flesh input operation by his own hands.

Raki landed and jumped again, placing a hand over his stomach with a deep frown. He had endured many days of intense pain and solitude after the operation, and once his strength started to show Isley had come and smashed down the wall with Priscilla in toe. Isley had had a frown of concentration while Priscilla's eyes had turned yellow and into slits. He had escaped through the window and ran away; he stayed away from Isley's fortress for many days as he learned his strength and weaknesses, limits and abilities. He then went back and fought Isley again to almost crossing his limit. Raki had lost but not without seriously _fucking Isley up_.

He looked up at the feeling of intense yoki just as the sound of crushing glass and buildings could be heard from the now in view city. The now common symphony of outcry and despair washed over the city as its inhabitants were probably busy getting their guts being devoured while still alive. Raki almost halted at the multiple signals of yoki and the abnormality in them. _Hanyin hanyou_ he thought to himself as he raced to the city, the sound of explosions and cries getting louder as he entered the destroyed front gate. The brick walls decimated with slash marks and smashed into debris and dust, the statues of women in prayer destroyed and the bodies of men lay about with the odd woman and child cut apart in the new blood red floor.

Raki frowned at the blood and ran forward before jumping onto a building ahead of him. He looked up as he heard a shout and his eyes widened in panic as three buildings were hurtling towards him, he crouched and tensed his legs before jumping high into the air, breaking the roof beneath him just as the large buildings crashed into the block of houses, decimating the entire block as the buildings crashed and rolled while collapsing others and sending wood, rock and metal everywhere in a catastrophe of destruction. Raki could not hope to fathom the amount of women and children that were hiding in those now in tones of debris.

Raki looked up while still in flight spotting three crimson figures bounding around a large creature. The creature, or awakened being. was huge with a large body shaped like a spiders with long thick huge legs slamming into buildings and moving it forward, its main body was flat like that of a stage except with dozens of tentacles shooting around, grabbing men, women and children alike before ripping them open and showering the stage like flesh in blood, their cries spreading throughout the city as more Crimson figures dashed out to attack the awakened one.

Raki landed on a building not too far away, watching as the sun disappeared into the dark clouds to give its time in the sky to the rain that was imminent. His black and silver dragon scaled metallic armour making him strike out in the battle scene. He watched as a Crimson prowler launched himself in the air, flipped and cut off several tentacles before landing on the fleshy stage only to be swallowed into the moving flesh. His screams and outcry calling the attention of his comrades only caused for two more of his kin to meet his fate in the stage of blood and death.

The three crimson Prowlers were pulled under the flesh and the flesh suddenly tensed and a sickening crunch was heard, making Raki wince as blood fountain upward to add to the growing sea of blood and organs.

Raki spotted a naked figure lying in the pool of blood in bliss; she had a calm smile on her face as she slowly washed the blood into her hair and body. Spotting his target, Raki jumped off the building and landed on the stage right next to her. Three tentacles shot out and headed towards him in preparation for a kill.

"Agatha, wait." Raki called and the tentacles halted mere centimetres away from his body, they slowly moved towards him and started to wrap around his body as the young woman known as Agatha turned her head towards him. She looked him over with a lazy eye and smile before standing and walking over to him, his 6'5 form towering over her 5'9 as she looked him over, the tentacles tightening around his chest while two others lazily went across his legs and arms. "Who are you, an Awakened like myself, no, something else? I'm sorry but this city and its people are my prey. I will let you leave unharmed if you leave these men, women, and children to me." She said tapping his sharp armoured shoulder and the black skull of a horned goat on it.

Raki looked down at her profile and then at the tentacles. "I don't eat humans, I'm here to offer you protection and a place at Isley's side, I can make the price I offer very desirable," Raki said shrugging off a tentacle that began to touch his face. "A pool; five meters deep of warm fresh blood, strong, male, human prisoners to eat for your selection, nice and fat too. You can have all this any day everyday, anytime whenever you like with no shortage and no one else to take your meals. To pass time you can wear the most expensive clothes and jewellery money can by, spend time with other awakened instead of by yourself, parties and festivals, wars and fights, anything and everything you desire."

"Hmmm?" She moaned walking around him as a child scream for its mother as a tentacle began to rip the child's guts out. Agatha reached for his helmet and took it off to get a good look at his face. "Why is it that Isley always has the handsome ones as his right hand men, people will start to question his sexuality." She said looking Raki over with more favour. Raki had matured a lot during his years with Isley his skills had improved but so had his looks. He had faded bronze hair sleeking back in rows with the hair covering his ears as well as along with a few locks of hair coming over his forehead. He had piercing silver eyes and a firm jaw and strong neck, youthful yet strong.

"I don't really care about his sexuality as long as it does not turn it towards me. Back to my offe-" He began but became cut off as a Crimson prowler cut away the tentacles and landed in front of the conversing pair. Raki moved to stand in front of Agatha like a man should and pulled a long bundle off his back. A long black fire shaped blade with nine points facing the same direction emerged. It had white sigils going up its length and a black handle with a red gem at the bottom.

"And a handsome sword, much more stylish and deadly than the organization gives out," Agatha voiced recalling her tentacles to allow Raki to defend her, she watched him dash off and lock blades with his enemy, a powerful clash and a strong movement of air from the flashing swords. She was intrigued by his offer, it sounded nice and it meant she could get food without effort and go out and do some killing to pass the time. Once you awakened you did not go out of your way to cause fights, Agatha always took the stray child at night or a traveller. She had become a story to scare children to stay inside their beds at night and close their windows.

Her tentacles would streak across the city blanketed by the night and making them invisible, going through buildings and gently pulling the child out making sure the victim stayed asleep and if not she could always cover there mouth or break their necks. She did have to go for periods without food, long days, weeks, months, years, centuries. The offer to have live, warm human flesh and blood was a mouth watering proposition and even though she liked Rabona, she knew that the city had a slow repopulation system as the law permitted one child per family and only two children for the wealthy, otherwise the babies would be sent to work in churches.

It meant she would have to wait longer every time she took too many children and it was even worse when a yoma understood her position and took advantage. Most Yoma could feel the underlining yoki that surrounded the city and it made it rare for yoma to come to the holy city at all. Making her the indirect reason why it had so few problems and why it was so populated for its reputation of no yoma. A blessing from a God, they were close, a blessing from a Goddess.

Raki drove his blade into the Crimson Prowlers gut and ripping the blade up and through the crimson prowler's skull in a shower of blood and brain matter. Before the body fell to the floor it was grasped by tentacles that rapped around the corpse and through it away and off the fleshy stage.

"They taste rotten and disgusting, I bathe in pure warm human blood and your offer is attractive, however, I don't want to be ordered, especially not by Isley." She started as she sat back down in her 5 inch deep blood, rubbing her face in the warm fluid.

"To Isley you are considered an ally, a co-worker, nothing more nothing less. I consider you my superior, you have a ton of experience and a colossal body of power, not too mention your beauty," He said with a slight smirk before looking around the stage and the blood and guts that submerged his ankles.

Agatha moaned for a moment before speaking, "And who says flattery gets you no where?" She submerged her face in the flesh before the blood and body parts were absorbed into the fleshy dome and into the humongous body. "Mm, delicious, a shame I should leave this place, it was nice and quiet with great potential, now they will be left to the hunger of multiple yoma and those crimson prowlers." She spoke as if talking about an old dog she was going to put down.

"I'm sure the claymore or Epitome warriors should be able to handle any problems with a heavy price. We should go before more of those crimson prowlers come, head southwest and we will come upon the Agateca ruins, recently renovated for my needs." He instructed and Agatha looked over the side of the city with her constant smile before turning back.

The massive legs stretched out as far as they could and the dozens of small bladed legs under the stage started to suck in air. The powerful legs pushed off the ground and the bladed legs blew out an intense stream of air launching the massive awakened into the air, the body started to spin as air was still being blown out, the speed spinning increasing every second. From the ground it looked like the awakened being became a red and black discus yet the destruction that was being wrought was nothing to admire as the action of the awakened one started to cause the wind to follow the spin creating a type of tornado, breaking buildings and pulling up anything not strong enough to withstand the tornado's power until the Awakened being was surrounded by a cover of swirling debris of buildings, plants, statues, granite, animals and even people.

The mass started to move away very quickly bringing almost half the city of Rabona with it in a chaotic storm of power as it left the city. Raki looked around him as the stage did not move one bit despite the spinning legs. Tentacles suddenly came up from the side and encompassed him in a dome with a few holes for light and air. Raki glanced at Agatha who was leaning back and eyeing him with a smile.

"It's been a while since I've done this, not the most delicate of transportation but it most defiantly is the quickest." She spoke patting beside her for him to sit down; he took the offer and placed his sword beside him, looking out for any more human flesh or blood. Agatha crept up and placed her right leg over his legs and placed her right hand across his shoulders, hands trailing across the horned goat head.

Raki ignored her advance and spoke. "Must be very energy consuming," He spoke watching as she nestled on top of him.

She shook her head. "No, this would be like walking to a human" She said placing her head underneath his chin.

Raki stared at the light sources and listened to the whistling wind. This was Agatha, former number two claymore to awaken in the same generation as Riful.

Gagakon Lake was a spectacular and peaceful feature to the continent, filled with the cleanest of water and the ripest and biggest fish around, salmon, bluefin-tuna, Hippo tang, leopard sharks, dwarf and banana eels and more. The moon was out today and the fish swam calmly, most asleep after a busy day of getting food and now going into a nice and well deserved sleep.

A few birds flew by while most dozed in trees and nest and the odd deer came out for a drink of crystal water. The few fish, birds and animals that were awake suddenly began to move out of the way or away from the lake altogether, the birds flew away, animals turned or lay down in some type of submission and the fish swam as fast as they could to the bottom of the lake.

The lake became red and dark and the creatures remained still for awhile, quiet and waiting for something, some signal. Suddenly, dears stood up to continue drinking fish began to swim and birds began to land on the massive rocks on a creature covered in moss and tough skin. The creature was, if no other word could describe its size, gargantuan, taking up almost half the lake and standing in the 9m meter deep water with both legs, its long strong head seemed to stay clam as two horns jutted from each side corner of the mouth to skim across the water before it dived its moss covered head into the pure liquid.

Sitting atop the head, just where the head ended, was a black clad figure with red trimmings and a hood fully covering his face. One eye seemed to light up creating a horizontal type of lens flare as the person scanned over the waters, a type of red cape that was huge and wide, seemed to dart and stretch in the air randomly, the cape used the light of the moon to shine a red light over the lake as the red light it cast off moved as if scanning for something. The Behemoth that Crimson helm was sitting on jerked and the cape receded to whirl around the creature as Crimson helm got up and stepped forward while the Behemoth's head lifted out of the pure water. Its mouth was open with dozens upon dozens of white pale tentacles coming out of it.

Five of which was holding onto a figure, female in figure but only half her body remained. The red cape moved to wrap around the woman as the tentacles let go and returned to the behemoths maw. The cape pulled the woman to Crimson helm and he looked her over, blonde beautiful flowing hair and a peaceful expression.

Crimson helm lifted his right arm and used his left hand to pull back the sleeve to reveal the sparkling silver gauntlet and equally sparkling purple. He undid some locks and bracers and pulled off the gauntlet revealing a glowing darkness in the form of an arm. Wisps of something sinister came off the black darkness like steam from a boiling pan. The arm seemed more ethereal than physical before Crimson helm grasped the darkness with his left hand and pulled, it looked like loose tearing flesh being ripped from meat. he pulled a good portion lose and it quickly took on a form of a type of black slug or tadpole, a mouth appeared and sharp razor teeth came out, the thing screamed in protest as he placed it against the woman's chest. The little monster stopped and seemed to sniff the woman, its face touched the pure flesh and the skin turned a lot darker and the feeling of reacting yoki hit Crimson helm's senses.

The bastard creature opened its maw before diving into the woman's chest, no flesh was cut, it seemed to be absorbed into the skin. Once the darkness of the creature was gone Crimson helm chucked the woman back into the river and fixed his attire, placing back on the gauntlet and allowing the cape to fully wrap around his left arm.

He waited and cupped his hands behind his back in waiting. The yoki grew and bubbles began to rise and pop from the surface. A violent burst of water exploded in front of Crimson helm and the Behemoth, the cape coming up to stave off the watery fall. Crimson helm stared at the serpentine person before him, gasping for air as she stayed afloat, her long tail hiding its lengths in the water, clawed sharp bladed hands stretched and a beautiful feminine face looked around the scene in confusion. She looked at her hands and frowned before looking back up at the two greater massive forces in front of her.

"H-h-how…I…" She looked from one palm to another in non-understanding. Was she not dead, killed by that claymore known as Clare, she had let herself be killed by someone she knew could carry on her human wish and proved it by fighting her own limitations to kill Ophelia. It was true Ophelia let Clare kill her instead of her killing Clare easier; however, a monster could not carry on a humans wish.

Now here she was again, a monster, a creature that had killed her brother and other friends, something she never wanted to become and had welcomed death as soon as it had come. Well, not so much welcomed but agreed with Clare in terms of who was more capable of carrying on their joint wish.

She was killed but now she stood alive. She looked back up at the man standing on the behemoth and felt a pulse of something foreign towards him. "Are you the course of my continued existence?" She asked in a weak voice due to lack of using her vocal cords.

"Affirmative, it was I who '_reawakened'_ you; I am your new superintendent. You were given back your life in hoping you will follow a different fate that is not in accordance to your own volition." He spoke out calmly.

The Awakened being, Ophelia tilted her head to the side in confusion. "What?"

"The words you are ruminating for are 'I beg your pardon,' not 'what.'" He explained being rewarded with silence. "Pardon me, I had forgotten about the organizations lack of educating their toys. Let me rephrase for you," He began, "I brought you back to life and in return you have to work for me, whether you like it or not, if you want to die then use your life for me, then die, if you want to live then work _with_ me and I can bring you all the pleasures you could not possibly imagine." He spoke with an odd tightness.

"See, easier?" Ophelia asked in slight thought of what he commanded.

"Negative, it was not," was the reply Ophelia was not expecting to hear. She moved towards him slowly as she felt a need to be near him. She slithered up the behemoths maw and onto the head, transforming in her human like form without any clothes on at all.

Crimson helm looked her over before his cape covered her; she was surprised by the cape but something inside told her not to fear it. She should be cautious yet felt no feelings of misgivings towards her; it did not mean she did not question him.

"Who are you?" She asked raising a delicate eyebrow in questioning. She lost her balance as the behemoth beneath her began to move and she looked up as large thick tentacles rose into the air with thick purple sheets connecting them.

"You will refer to me as Crimson helm; however, in my presence you will call me master." He instructed as the _wings_ came down lifting them from the lake in an explosion of air and water sending the creatures around flying, swimming or scattering away.

Ophelia was confused about her current circumstances. She had wanted death, _had_ being the keyword, now she was not so sure what she wanted, life, death? She had been given life but what about that horned monster that had killed her brother? How long had she been dead, had Clare completed their oath, was she still in the process or was she dead? Could she trust this new _master_ the word did not go easy on her ears, she was no ones slave and she was going to make that prominent. She did recognise someone stronger than her but decades, much stronger despite her awakened state. She knew when not to push her luck and something inside agreed.

So many question yet so few answer. "You did not answer my question." She said motionlessly as her hair wafted in the air.

"You will learn who and what I am in due time," He concluded.

Short chapter but needed to get this out! Hope you enjoyed and yes, Crimson helm does have one complex vocabulary, have to dive into my memory banks. Yay! Reawaken ones have been introduced, who else shall he bring back? Only time will tell. Hehehe. More Clare and Slashers next chapter along with an extra lemon scene by my beta reader who has also started a side story for me[honoured

Give me some time with Ophelia, it will prove challenging to get her character right. Big chapter next time with a big load of combat! Hope you enjoyed! I'll start posting information in my profile soon!


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